Simply Redheads

Back to school...

2012-01-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

So this week we all went to school. Wow, has it been a long time! The last time i was at school was standing in the line debating on whether i could go with a 3 year old and pregnant. Standing in the line i started to throw up, and that decided that. So that little bundle of joy is 9 :)
My gosh how things have changed!!! Everything is almost done online, you upload your homework, and everything is on smartboards, and how many acronym's can there be in this world?! I think i'm a bit tech savvy and i'm lost. I can't imaging someone who didn't use computers would do. It's good to be using my brain again though :) Classes are a lot more fun when they are involving your desired career. I mean, one if my assignments is to make a children's book. That i can do :)
Now figuring out an online blackboard, clueless!
Midget is moving onto dividing, and i feel so sorry for her. I can see her struggling with it, and i know how important these years are for her whole math future. So we are working hard, and trying all the different ways. I had a great tutor in college, who was the first one to help me get through college algebra, and i found her as a math professor. So if things don't improve i may give her a call. She's a bundle of positive energy, and would click with my little bundle of energy.
Monkey is taking the SAT in a couple weeks. It is so hard to explain to him that this isn't like any test he's ever taken. Luckily we signed him up for a seminar for 7th graders taking it at the college. I don't want him to get discouraged and give up. Plus this will give him a chance to meet some kids, and learn some testing skills. He's googled and found out that he isn't going to score perfect, Mit wants 2200, and the average 7th grader gets a 300 or 400. That was a bit of a heads up :) But i'm glad he's thinking ahead, and we should start buying our lottery tickets now so we can pay for it .

Christmas pics and Aunt Patty and Julie

2012-01-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to downloading, or is it uploading? my pictures from Xmas. I had forgotten that hubby was running around like the paparazzi at my mom's house too :) He got some nice pics though, but this one is my absolute favorite...
That man, he still melts my heart. Look at the look on his face... He was so happy to give her the sweetest heart necklace he picked out for her.

And this, this was monkey's big present... ugh.

Here is my super-cool bike the kids and hubby got me... it's so neat. My mom had one almost identical when I was a kid. :)

This on his shirt is Nyan cat.... a pop-tart rainbow pooting internet sensation... and just so you all know.. I am awesome for getting him that shirt!

This is my brother, and our 18 yr old cat Rodney

Here's the kids educating Aunt Patty and the grandparents on Maru the cat :)

The family :)

The family, rotate uncle J out and add dad :)

Now Sheldon is one SPOILED cat! Yes, that is monkey holding the neck massager on him, and he absolutely loves it!

Aunt Patty, and i really want to know what skin products she uses... because she has some amazing skin!

Catching up..

2012-01-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is over, New Years is over, hubby's vacay is over.... is it too late to say bah-humbug? We had a great, relaxing christmas. We got to see some family we haven't seen in forever. That was nice, except all the kids, i remembered as kids, somehow grew up and had kids? That can't be, because that would mean i'm really old.. :)
The kids had a great Christmas. Monkey got his airsoft gun, a bb-like gun that shoots little plastic balls. Not metal bb's. He thinks he's the coolest kid ever. He even got to have his friend sleep over, and he brought his too. So they were playing in the back yard, rolling around being Rambo. IT was quite funny. :) Safety goggles were worn by all!
Midget got her Calico Critter trailer, cutbacks and all, Santa couldn't do the mansion. Besides i hear they like to be mobile. Hubby went with her to ballet class several times, and she loved that. He got so into it with her, he talked to the teacher and they added a day, so now she's up to 2 times a week... and wait for it... The angels are making that "AAAAHHHH" sound, her teacher said if she keeps up the hard work.... (it's every little girls dream), she can MAYBE get her toe shoes next fall. That little girl was giddy... So her dad built her her very own ballet bar to practice with. He even went and priced toe shoes. Not sure why he thought they were so pricey, but it was funny :)
We also made some decisions on my future, i'm about a year away of my degree, so we went to the school and talked to the advisor. I am now the world's oldest college student :) Even scarier is i have enrolled in an online class, one of them wasn't offered at a time i could do, so since it's a tech class, it's offered lots online. Not sure how that will work?! I've got two on campus. Monkey just wants me to finish before he starts :) Seeing how much it is, i think we better get in shape so our organs are worth selling, because i don't know how we are affording two in college! Especially with their choices. It's coincidentally college week at monkey's school this coming week. So what are my sweet boys choices.... not Texas A and M, or University of Texas, where i can just grab the shirts at target or wal mart. No, my boy chooses MIT and The Naval Academy... I love that he dreams big. :) I hate that i found out at the last minute and had to order online. But, who can't support those dreams, and he researched them and all. He's going to be a nvay seal, join the CIA get kidnapped, not harmed, and write a novel about it. :) Oddly enough, with that boy, i can see it!
Midget makes my life easy, she likes Texas A&M. She's going to live in a mansion and build a nature reserve to provide a home for the animals she is going to rescue. I so <3 her.

Christmas shopping...

2011-12-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas around here. Hubby did the watchdog day at school, we survived class parties. I had a hard time monkey's. Well, lack there of. It's not like elementary school anymore...sniff, sniff. He said there were no parties, so i believed him. Then in his non-chalant way, said well the teacher said we could bring some snacks or something. Excuse me, this is the morning as we walk out the door. Ugh, it killed me. Luckily i had gotten him a couple boxes of candy canes, but still.. Cookies on a cute plate, something?? Boys, they just don't care like girls do :( He had fun though, someone, with a girl i imagine, brought pizza :) Next year, i will be prepared!
Midget's party was a feast of winter delights, not Christmas, as it's public school :( But they had snowflake cupcakes, and pizza, chips and alot of candy. I was sad to see a good friend of midget's dad there with a new, much younger wife... ugh. That was heartbreaking to find out. She seemed nice, and was nice to her friend. So I hope they are all doing well. She had lots of fun at her party, and it was good we were all there for it.
Here are some pics of hubby being a watchdog. It was lots of work, more than he knew. I might have not mentioned how much on purpose...ssshhh. It made midgets whole year i think. He read to some classes in the library, helped a few kinder kids with their projects, worked at lunch, and helped the principal. Then we all met up for lunch with midget, and broke her out of school early. Fun day for her, but he was a little overwhelmed ;)
Oh, and his stylish vest, says "watch D.O.G.S." And it stands for Dads of Great Students. Sweet :)

This was her star of the week poster

Star of the week

2011-12-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

This has been a crazy week! Midget is star of the week at school. So that means everyday something special. She had a poster about herself, got to read her favorite book to her class (the sandwich swap)- great book! I made a quick dvd with some pics of her to show her class, very sweet. Today she gets letters from her friends in her class. Plus today I had the odd honor, off droppping my husband and my daughter off at school. That was funny!! Monday was an open house for ballet class too. She was so happy her daddy was there to watch!

Monkey has had exams all week. Crossing our fingers he does well. I'm sure he will though. He's worked hard all semster. he gets to have his friend sleepover tomorrow, and his dad is taking them to the skatepark. Not to mention, when this boy see's his xmas present, he is going to be so HAPPY!!! I'm so excited for him :) Although not sure who is more excited, his dad, or him.
Fred has been busy all week... i think he's getting a bit tired, as he hardly moved a couple days last week. oops... But he's made up for it this week with his silliness!

Here is the monkey, making his very special omlette's for all of us for breakfast! He' s quite the chef. He was making fun of me, since his dad told him i didn't know how to boil water when we got married :)

He was so hard to find this morning!! Wrapped himself up, she says he wanted to stay forever. :)

Here's that pesky Fred. He was making snow angels in the kitchen...with salt!

Fred was taking a bath in the bubbles in the sink. Midget was mad, as he was using her toothbrush as a back brush. She said he left elf hair on it...eeewww!

He left a movie one night, and he ate her hershey bar...

Career day

2011-12-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Today was career day at midgets school. Her dad missed it by one day :( So she asked her uncle to come. He's super busy right now, but agreed to come for her. They were so great! He thought the kids wouldn't want to hear the typical cop speach, so he brought one of his officers and the k9 dog. It was so cute! Hubby was right, and said Johnny Carson was right, never follow a cute dog. :) All the kids went nuts for the dog, and midget was a rock star!

Also, we got some of our xmas decorations up. We got my village up. I love my village. It's one of my favorite holiday traditions. My first village pieces were from hubby's grandma. She actually made them herself with her church group. I cherish them, and it's nice showing them to the kids. Some of the other little building are from my dad. He got one that is a wedding dress shop. So sweet. I have to admit got a little weepy taking these things out. Yes, they are just objects, but they have such memories. Now midget loves the village, and has fun placing the people everywhere, and putting the lights on them. But, we have a invader in the village...

Oddly he is quite agile and never knocks anything over.

Sheldon's bed

2011-11-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

My mom had given us this little window ledge thing for Sheldon to sit on. But every time he got on, it fell. So grandpa took it and made him a little box and put the bed part on top. He loves this thing!
So here is the napping kitty. He's even taken to midget's bitty-baby blanket :)

Pizza girl

2011-11-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

We are out of school now for the break, thank goodness! Midget was a bit bored, sadly there are no kids her age on our street :( So while monkey roams the street skating, she is bored. So she made our dinner! We had a pizza kit, and she made the dough. Of course, then she had to make a menu, take our order and serve us :)
It was really good though!

wowzers...

2011-11-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

We've had a good week. It's cooled off alot, and finally feels like fall. We had to get some new shoes for monkey. Do boys feet ever stink!! Yuck! When he takes his shoes off you can smell the funk slithering across the house. After going to Zumies, and having the sales girl try to use her feminie charm on my little man... i was so mad! He didn't fall for it, and we came home and ordered his shoes online :)
We got him some super cool Lakai's. They are "Beast". I feel so out of it, Beast is now a new word apparently. So we ordered from Zappo's, and i was prepared to have him whine everyday if his shoes were here. Who knew that day would come? I'm proud :) They came the next day, in less than 24 hours!! Can you believe it? Crazy good customer service!! Here are his new beast shoes...

Taylor and Soccer

2011-11-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

We had a crazy busy weekend. We finished soccer season, and got the trophies to prove it. Sadly midget had a great coach, but monkey wasn't as lucky. His coach was not positive, and didn't let the kids play all the positions. Midgets was so positive, and everyone played. Hopefully, next time we will get a better, more positive coach. But he had some fun, and was active. He's back to skateboarding, so I am glad to see him doing something he loves. The big thing this weekend was I took midget to see Taylor Swift. I have never seen a girl so happy! I have to admit, i really like Taylor Swift too. She is so adorable, and such a positive roll model for little girls. She dresses age-appropriate, isn't on drugs, and is not in the news for doing bad things. Love her for that! The concert was amazing, she had ballet dancers, a wedding, and midgets favorite part, she sang love story from a floating balcony. So pretty. Here's a video, look how happy she is, i so <3 this little girl!
Please ignore the nose wipe, it was windy outside on our 30 minute hike to the stadium from our parking lot :)

Here are some Halloween pics..

and some soccer..

Confessions...

2011-10-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing good i'm afraid, or all that exciting :) I absolutely love the a&e show Billy the Exterminator. It's odd, i know. But there was a little boy at the trick or treat in the park last night dressed like Billy!!! Oh how i wish i could talk mine into doing that. It was so awesome!

Now the kids went nuts over the minecraft boxes these kids wore.

We are waiting to get the fun started again... It's been a fun, tiring couple of days! I am looking forward to a restful november!

Halloween

2011-10-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

We headed down to the Boardwalk for Boo on the Boardwalk, had alot of fun! Midget wont he Halloween contest and got a gift card! Dinner was on her!
How cute are they?

This kids costume was AWESOME! He transformed!!

Playing around...

2011-08-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

We had a nice weekend being lazy, and survived the first week of school. They both did okay getting up early, but it was getting a little grumpier by the end of the week.
Soccer starts in a couple weeks, and then things will get crazy. Midget had a small fire in the cafeteria and 3 firetrucks came, of course with her you never know. She's gotten to the age of telling stories, and she's so good you never know. I guess it's time to whip out the tale of the boy who cried wolf.
Monkey is full on into junior high, and isn't as crazy about it. But he's glad to be there with his friends. Hopefully things pick up for him, it's alot of changes.
Here are some pics of them having fun outside, still need to get midget a bike. They fight over his :)

Such a handsome guy.

Okay, this is him being nice to her, but her not being to sure of riding on the back... but she doesn't want him to know she's scared:)

I love when they get along....:)

She took the doll seat for her bike, and tried to tie it on her scooter, it didn't work to well...

His new favorite spot..

cute kitty..

Halfway through...

2011-08-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

the week... This getting up at 5:45 is for the birds! When my kids finally start to sleep late, it's time to start getting up early! We are making it through the week though. They are both enjoying school, socially anyway :) All their friends remembered them, so that was a huge relief. They both miss their friends in Abu Dhabi though :( I miss their friends moms! But they are doing good, and are adjusting well. Well expect one glich, Midget got fired! This is hilarious though, she was the trash queen. How funny is that? The girl who doesn't pick up her trash at home, was voted "trash queen". In charge of making sure things get in the trash. Well she got canned today... After one day... for being too bossy! So she is now the chalk board eraser... Ah the dillemas of the 3rd grade!
Monkey is liking school, i am not liking figuring out what goes where for his school supplies, and he seems to not care one bit. He's just enjoying buying chik-fil- a for lunch, and talking to his friends. We are going to have to work on that a bit....

School time...

2011-08-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

So today the kids went back to school. Some more enthused than others. Midget was excited as she had a friend from pre-school in her class. Monkey, not as enthused. But really what 7th grader is? I can't believe my baby boy is in 7th grade! This was the first year I didn't walk him in, and I kept envisioning myself clinging onto his leg as he dragged himself inside. Junior high scares the bejeezus out of me. Would it be bad if i said don't talk to anyone you don't know, don't eat anything i didn't put in your lunch bag, and don't make eye contact? I didn't, i wanted to... Between my mothers horror stories of the drugs and activities kids are doing at his age, i'm going to have nightmares for the next 1o years!
I trust him, and he's a good kid. He's got some friends he's looking forward to, and we'll all survive :)
Loving her hello kitty lunchbox :)

He's posing... :)

All set...

Now, are these two cute or what?

Museum time!

2011-08-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

We decided to head off to the museum of science today, and have some fun. It's neat now that they are both old enough to sit through some of the educational things, and care about what they are hearing. We saw the planetarium movie about the Mayan's, and learned a bit about 2012. Monkey thinks it's funny, i hate to say midget was a bit concerned. She kept asking me if the world is going to end in 2012. I said we survived the turning from 1999 to 2000, so just cross your fingers :) Then we made geode's. They got to pick a rock, and the girl cracked it for them. That was neat. Nice keepsake.

Then we headed to the butterfly dome. It's so funny, last time we were there monkey was scared of the butterfly's. It was so adorable, and you can see he's still not to sure. You know how violent and ferocious butterfly's are... Much scarier than zombies!

There was also an egyption part that midget was all about. She did a big section on egypt at school, so she was so excited!

There was a funny little learning part about sand dunes, and how they were made. HA! Beat you to that, I think my kids can teach that lesson!

Midget was a daredevil, again... There was a gyrosphere, and i felt so bad. Monkey was debating, but wouldn't go. So she went ahead and went on her own. Wish dad was here, he might have gone with her!

Love the look on her face here, she loved it though. You can't tell :)

Lastly, here are my cuties!

Woo-hoo...

2011-08-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

I got my birthday present early... and i absolutely love, love it! It'll take me forever to learn to use the thing, but it's okay. So my new toy is a canon rebel dslr, the beginner, beginner one. Since my love camera was beyond repair with sand from the dunes. But this thing is amazing!
Here's the car... so pretty.. look at how it catches the shine... please ignore the dirt :)

Handsome little man...

Kit-teh!

smiley girl...

This i love, you can see her little whispies, and her shiny earrings. She is still talking about them :)

The boy had assumed his position.. Until we go get his book he has to read for school ;)

So excited! Now i can take tons of pics!!

R.I.P.

2011-08-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

or pieces, dear swingset. No more nose dives from the carpenter bees for the kids! Once we got home we found out the wood on the swingset was eaten by the ants and carpenter bees! So grandpa to the rescue! He came with his chainsaw and down it came, in a hundred pieces :(
Midget has a few good swinging years left in her, so she was sure to be promised a new swingset:)

Please ignore the blob of the slide as it's not so pretty deflated!
We all had fun this weekend at Monkey's friend's bday. They are so cute, and bicker like an old couple. His mom is actually the one who introduced me to my hubby, and so i love her to pieces. The boys are 3 weeks apart, and have been friends ever since.
The hulk!

Here are the twins, and midget is never far behind them. Monkey put his goggles on one, and she loved them:)

So i swear we don't ignore monkey, but he's been hanging at his friends house all the time i let him. I'm going to have to stalk him for some pics :) Here are some pics from midgets ballet class this week. She was in heaven, and is so excited to be back at her school. Not to mention, the girls in her class that wear toe shoes are so "cool".

Monkey had his test this morning for the AP classes, we should know tomorrow if he was accepted. He said the test was easy, so cross your fingers! We went and picked up the car, as they had the leather put in. My poor car has spent more time in the shop than in my driveway! So there is only one more trip to get the bumper finished after the drunk looney tune hit it, and we are done! But the leather seats look great. After we did that we went to get more school clothes. We had been talking about getting midgets ears pierced for a while, i'd told her it would hurt. She knew this, and was still begging. So i caved... Monkey was there and helped her be brave. And video taped it, the little booger... But i made sure we didn't end up with a one earing'ed girl. We had one on each side, and it was done! I was near tears for her, but she was scared, but did great. And she thinks it's the best thing ever! She called grammie in the car, she called grandma, ran to the neighbors, she's grinning ear to ear :) Sparkly ears at that :)
I was so ready to grab her and run! That face...

But alas, can you beat that smile! My baby is growing up... :(

Now i am going to stalk my little man for some pics. But my camera is still toast... So i'm having to use my phone... bleh.

Getting back to normal..

2011-08-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

So the boy is registered for school. He chose art for his elective. I didn't want to pressure him for band, but i wish he would have listened. It's such a great way to make a unit of friends. I mean you don't hear of lifelong friends made in art class.... But maybe next term, or next year. We didn't really get the whole sit down and explain the choices. It was more of a oh yeah, pick one of these kid... from the registrar. So, that was not ideal. He goes back for testing for the advanced classes on Thursday. Hope he does well, as we haven't exactly been keeping up with work this summer :)
Midget is all signed up for dance class, and we were shocked to learn in Thursday, that they start on Monday. So we went and got her some new leotards, tights and shoes. She has grown a mile this summer. She moves up a class, so she thinks she is set for the stage now. She is in the bigger girl class, where some are even in toe shoes. She's too young, but is of course mesmerized by them. IT's good and will keep her on her toes (hehe, no pun intended, well yes it was, i couldn't resist!) She is even going to audition for the competitive little dance team the school has. As long as it keeps her away from the cheer teams she was talking about, i'm good with it!

Summer fun...

2011-08-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's obvious, we are mopey over here. So we picked ourselves up by our bootstraps, and decided we had to do something fun. Luckily our waterside arrived, thank you ebay! So the neighbors kids came back from the divorced parents summer-swap, and the kids were happy to have some fun with them.

Yesterday we went to grammie and grandpa's house. Midget had so much fun with grandpa and feeding the horses some of his pears.

Today grandma took us to the game store and did bday's. We did lunch at Red Lobster. You can't eat crab with my mom. She will go after you and get every single shred of crab. Monkey learned this the hard way :)

It's hot!

2011-08-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

It's hot out here right now! I thought it was hot over in the middle east, but this is hot here in Texas! We've had the ac blowing full blast and have been trying to stay cool. The slip n slide worked for a while, but you can only do that for so long.
So it looks like we will be joining the Y. They've got the pool, soccer, and a gym. So that will give us something to do:) School starts in 3 weeks. The kiddos are divided on school here. My little midget is thrilled to be back and can't wait to see her friends. Now monkey is dreading going back. He wants to be back in Abu Dhabi. He's not thrilled with public school at all, and neither am I. Hopefully it will go well, fingers crossed.
So not much going on here, just trying to stay cool, stalk the delivery company with my furniture :)

Slip-n-slide

2011-07-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

We went and got a slip n slide, as we are all ssooo bored! So the kids had some fun with it for a while. But they had tons of fun with it once they "snuck" the dish soap passed me. Little do they know i saw them :), and was fine with it. So they went alot faster with the soap!
Of course this is after our trip to walgreens to get some floats to jump on. We had one that had a little inflatable board, and that makes it lots better, and a bit less painful. So with a little duct tape, and a bendy pool float, we were good to go!

He's landed...

2011-07-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hubby landed back in Abu Dhabi.... And frankly all i can think to say to that is monkey's favorite word... poop. Childish yes, but sums it up pretty well :)
We've had a blah day, but we did play some soccer out front. Now we are all watching Harry Potter.
It's been torture watching the poor girl stare at the swing set. The swing set is rotted, and unsafe. So we have to take it down. So it's there, but they can't swing. Its surprising how much that was what they did back there! So we are on the search for an economical replacement. She is 8, but has a few good swinging years in her yet ;)
I've got to get a charger for my camera that plugs in here, i miss mt camera!

:(

2011-07-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

So today was the day we dreaded... well the day after the day we dreaded had arrived. There's nothing like saying goodbye to the other half of you twice... We had our tearful goodbye yesterday, we'd finally all stopped crying, all but the boy. He's too manly to cry.. Then hubby called and said his flight was canceled and could we come get him. One more day was good to have though :) But then we had to say goodbye again :( So we are here, missing him so much already. This time had better go fast!
Our furniture was delayed in leaving the port, so we are living like squatters a bit longer. That stinks! The kids are settling in well though, and once our stuff gets here i will be so glad. The furniture we ordered for the living room came, and we love it. Sadly, hubby's man chair, had a hole so it won't be here until next week. And yes bob, i know, it's not a man chair if it's a chair and a half. But it's a man's chair, that will fit the two of us :)
I've spent the afternoon repairing millions of nail holes in my walls. I dont' know what the renters did with all the nails??!! There were over 24 nails in one small wall. I will post pics once they are all spackled. I hope i can paint the spots, but it looks like we may have to do the whole wall. Ugh... But they are our walls :)
So tonight we wallow with lifetime tv, and pizza. Hopefully we will hear from hubby soon letting us know he landed. Boo to his leaving. Can you tell I am not taking this as well this time?

Settling back in...

2011-07-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

So we are back at our own house, and it's good to be home! Granted we are low on furniture, and homey things, but they are on their way. Finally got our internet hooked up, so my thumbs can quit cramping up from trying to do all the internet on the iphone :)
So now we are looking for a car, settling in and replacing all those things one uses everyday that you can take for granted! No, i don't really want to spend 25 dollars on an iron, but do i really want to go all wrinkled?? Hmmm.....
The kids are glad to be home, and have had sleepovers and are playing with their old friends like we never left. Strange... it's like we never left, but have lost a year somehow. But, it's good to be home and see all the family and friends we missed so much.

Home at last, almost:)

2011-07-08T05:56:00.000-07:00

I think the rainbow over the plane taking us home was a sign :)

After the never-ending flight, the layover in Amsterdam, and then the truly, never-ending 10 hour flight, we are home! Well, almost home. We went by our house, and it is fine, and homey and I could have kissed the ground. We stayed a couple of night with hubby's parents, which was fun. The kids were in absolute heaven. Living so close before, we never really did that. It was so much fun for them, and us actually:) We've seen all kinds of friends and family that we missed oh so much. So it's been a great week. The jet lag wasn't too bad either. Sheldon has slept with a dog even, and yesterday played with a puppy. So even he's having some fun. I think grammie and grandpa are going to be wanting a cat soon, sheldon slept with them, and grandpa seemed to like it :) He's catching up on his sleep from his flight, poor kit-teh.
So now we are at the beach house, relaxing. We've hit schliterban, played in the waves here, and sat on the patio and relaxed. I have to say waking up and sitting on a chaise lounge watching the waves, it's a good way to start the day!

How odd is that? This guy was just laying up there on the back of the couches? Not not on the couches..

Now the beach...

here's the view from the balcony..

After lugging the bag, the towels and all the beach stuff, dropping it on the way... I had been passed by the effectient mom who was walking so fast her kids couldn't keep up. I was thinking "wow, she's a pro".. Well, i found a wagon in our garage :)

This is what long days at the beach do to kids :)

P.S. My camera battery is dead, so i need to get a charger... I've got tons of pics on hubby's phone. But no idea of how to get them off there! So I'll post more then...

Sleepovers...

2011-06-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

So Thursday we had a sleepover for some of Monkey's friends. We crammed 6 boys and midget and I into the car on the way home from school. I was laughing, as they think it is cool to say bad words. So i asked how many languages are you guys going to try and use in front of me? We had korean, croatian, portugese, russian/swedish, and emerati and monkey. So funny! It is funny as they all talked about having been, or wanting to go to America. They were great boys though. Hubby thought i was nuts... having them all come. There were pranks in the night, i've seen them on facebook :) But all in good fun :) They swam, played soccer/football, and played video games. They also ate me out of house and home :)
Playing some soccer! one of the boys is really, really good. He's been giving my little man some pointers:)

Popping some confetti poppers, trying to anyway. We got a giant one that didn't work :(

How cute are they? I mean cool...

Sleeping arrangements...

Breakfast... I made waffles with strawberries, per the boys request.

Games... notice the big boy in there too!

9 days...

2011-06-22T03:25:00.000-07:00

9 days people, 9 days!!! We will be on a plane, on the way home!! The kids are getting so excited, some more than others :) Although, much as monkey likes it here, even he is looking forward to some "normal" things back home. It's the little things we can take for granted. Aside from the obvious, family and friends of course. Stop signs, drive-thru's, being able to read the instructions and menu's for the food.... And grass... even if it is dead from the drought :)
We've been packing, gift buying... Which is really kind of funny here. They don't really make anything. So a gift from here, is really something from somewhere else. And every gift shop you go in, they throw pashmina's at you. Now i admit, they are gorgeous. I have a few, i love them. Here... Not really something you see everyone wearing around town back home :) A sword, not the average gift, although i do know someone reading this who might like one. :) I went to the place here called the hamden centre, not to be confused with hamed centre, monkey. I wouldn't go there without you :) They have knock off purses, clothes, hats, shoes... I saw a Ferrari hat, so i thought. So i thought, i know someone who would like this. You know who you are, and I bought it. Got it home, showed the kids, they were all excited. Until this a.m. when midget looked, "Mom, how do you spell Ferrari?", so i told her. Well, you are now the proud owner, of a true sign of Abu Dhabi. A Ferrart hat. It says Ferrart. You may lose the hat to grandpa, who is as midget says, "so proud of his farts, he would love it." And as hubby says, when will I learn? But i do so love my Buberrys wallet :)

stalling...and swimming

2011-06-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

So there are a million other things i should be doing right now... But frankly unless one of them jumps up and walks over and says "you should start here", it isn't looking to promising :) So, i will brag on my little man. He has taken a love to sports over here, which is something that makes his dad and I so happy. Unfortunately it's too hot to do any of them right now. But swimming, we can do. So he had his swim gala at school yesterday. He did really well. Especially considering some of the other kids are on swim teams, and have done "field training". His classmates mom told me that, to me that's military training out in the desert or something, i'm guessing it's something else in Africa? That kid swam like Michael phelps! He was done, while the "good swimmers" were halfway done! So even though my man came in 3rd, he did awesome! So while the dutch criticized her son, and how he did good, but... I was thrilled to pieces and praising my 3rd place kid!

See the pro next to him, alot wear those tight swim shorts. Monkey would just die if i brought those for him :)

We do feed him, i promise!

He had so much fun!!

Recital

2011-06-20T05:34:00.000-07:00

So we went to midget's recital, and she did good. It was long, and monkey was quite bored. They had assigned seats on the tickets, but we never knew when i bought them. So apparently you didn't get to choose, luckily ours were good! They had quite a few mishaps with lights and sounds, but luckily she didn't notice. Now, her costume.... Her 50 dollars last minute costume we had to buy. Well, the leaotard was too small, and a unicorn is what she was. But no tail, and as you can see she had a wardrobe malfunction with her obscene, carrot horn. :) She had fun hanging out with her friends all day though, so as long as she had fun that is what counts!
I've got pics of collin's swim gala he had yesterday. I'll try and get those up tonight. He did really well! I'm so proud of both of them. Such amazing little people they are becoming!

We have a wardrobe malfunction people, horn down!

Daddy even wore the purple tie she got him a few years ago for the daddy daughter ball, can that grin be any bigger? Notice the silly monkey in the background!

Ballet...

2011-06-16T04:49:00.000-07:00

We are in ballet mode this weekend. I am a bit miffed... We pay for classes every month, so someone please tell me why do I have to pay for her recital tickets? We have to pay for her costume, on 3 days notice no less! Plus tickets for us all to go! I've never had to pay before. Plus they are doing it two days in a row! This is pure craziness people! She's never tried her costume on, we've never even seen it before tomorrow. So the day of the recital she gets her costume, it's utter chaos.
I miss my structured teachers, you pay for the costume in installments 2 times a year, there are fittings a month or two ahead of time, and then the recital is free, cause i don't know, gee, it's a show to show you what they have learned. Ugh....
So we are not looking forward to this, as she has to be there at 11, and the show isn't until 6. So we will have one grumpy ballerina. Not to mention 2 days in a row? I wonder if i can bribe her to not go on Sat.... would that be wrong? :)

Swim Gala

2011-06-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

Midget had her swim gala last week. We were all picturing everyone doing water ballet, or synchronized swimming :) Quite dissapointed, it was merely swim races...
She had worked hard, and her swimming has really come along way! I'm glad she doesn't take after me, and have to hold her nose ;)
Here are some pics. Monkey has his on the 19th, he has exams all this week.. bleh!

She's in there!

Bounce house blows away!

2011-06-05T02:26:00.000-07:00

These things have always scared me. Although i have to admit, i am a paranoid mother. But it never failed, when the kids would get in one, one would come out getting smacked in the face, or kicked in the stomach. They are so much fun, but I would always watch with nervousness praying nothing happened.
Well now I can say this is why :)

(CNN) -- A heavy gust of wind blew away inflatable bounce houses with children inside at a New York soccer event, leaving 13 people injured, authorities said late Saturday.

The Oceanside United Soccer Club in Long Island was hosting a tournament Saturday afternoon when three bounce houses started floating away, said Eric Evensen, a Nassau County police officer.

"As children were inside, a heavy gust of wind blew across the field, raising them off the ground and sending them airborne," he said. "Once they hit the ground, they began rolling and struck several people on the ground."

Lara Rhatigan said she was about to enter a ride when her neck got hooked by a rope connected to a bounce house.

"The wind blew everything down," she told CNN affiliate News 12 Long Island. "It felt like someone was grabbing my neck and they were dragging me."

Her mother was getting hot dogs at the time, and turned around to see the houses floating away.

"I couldn't believe it. It was like something out of a movie," Marianna Rhatigan told the affiliate.

The 13 people were treated for minor injuries at local hospitals, according to authorities.

"I don't think there'll be any criminal charges, but I'm sure there could be some civil," Evensen said.

T.V.

2011-06-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

So it is June. I will spare you all the woo-hooing going on in our house about coming home in 29 days. But i'm not counting, and neither is monkey. I won't tell you she put a countdown app on my iphone and shows it to me everyday with a big grin. That would be bad.. right?
But what is driving me nuts, is T.V. I miss my good shows!! Yes, i can download them. But truly, some of my most peaceful moments last summer were after the kids went to bed and I got to watch tv in peace. Well, peace minus the scramble for the remote as they snuck out of bed one by one. Saying they couldn't sleep, needed a drink, were hungry, etc. Trying to pause my favorite show... sniff sniff, that is going to come on this month and i will miss. Oh my vampires, and wolves, and so on. True Blood, i miss you. Not to mention Weeds... sniff sniff. Somehow 500 episodes of law and order, and not the good ones, aren't doing it for me. And HGTV, that was my thing, i loved it. The BBc version, not the same. There is one show, that is very good, but i can't ever remember when it is on. My poor midget is missing NICKELODEAN people! I had her weaned off Hannah Montana, we had discussed she's a bit... well you know what she's a bit of. We were done, and here, no nickelodean.. No good role model Icarly, although she too was kissing boys when we left, so who knows. She could be pregnant by the time we get back. Where are the good role models for her age really? I mean she's too old for some of the little kids shows, but does she really need to watch 13 year old girls make out on tv? Is there nothing inbetween? Of course this i write, while i am missing as Bob calls it my vampire porn.... But did you ever really watch the whole thing? I mean come on.. it's fabulous.

Henna... woohoo

2011-05-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

The kids and I ventured out to a souk for a nice lunch, and some wandering. Well, monkey ventured out with midget and I as he was promised a video game to go down the slides at Atlantis... Ssshhh, Don't tell :) So he endured our girlie lunch at Shakespeare's cafe, truth be told, he said it was the best burger he has had here. Go figure. I just love the ambiance at the place. They have all mismatched chairs, cute tablemats, fancy silverware and all things cutesy. A bit like a tea room should be back home. Of course this is how un-cultured the kids and I are. The man brings us our bread and butter, the butter in this cute dish, with a silver domed lid. Money takes the lid off, and there is a picture on the butter. So I am thinking, wow... this is nice, they emboss their logo on the butter... So we are staring in our hillbilly amazement, and the waiter comes and peels the piece of paper off the top. DOH! Of course, hubby says he knew about that, and has seen it lots of times. Hmmpf.
Monkey deciding which he wants...

Waiting for the food... how cute are the chairs?

So after our nice lunch, we came across henna. We have been wanting it for so long, and could never find it. So midget and I got our hands done, and monkey got a cobra henna tattoo. Henna is so strange though, it is a dye, so it is darker today than yesterday. They paint it on like cake icing from a bag, then it sits for 20 minutes, and you scrape the crust off. Not for the impatient child!

Midgets henna before we scraped it off, it was drying.

Midgets henna after we scraped it off.

ME getting mine :)

Atlantis

2011-05-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to Atlantis today. The kids are on a mid-term break, last one for the year :) That place is just amazing! So we had the sand last weekend, so the sea this weekend :) It was so gorgeous there, and you get to use their private beach. Nice... We finally got Monkey to go down a waterslide. It didn't help that when we were about to go, the man in front of us, got scared and got off. So here we are, both chicken, thinking hmmmmm... But we did it! Of course hubby and midget were long gone down the slide. It's so neat though, you go through the shark tunnel! Very nice park, low-key rides, which are good for us chickens. A lot nicer i think than wild-wadi waterpark. But I am more of a lazy river floater, than a big slide person. I do have a complaint on water parks though. What are those of us who are blind as a bat supposed to do? I hate that, i can't see, can't bring my camera around.. I spend the day squinting and praying to not get separated from my family!
Do have a funny story though. We went to get ice-cream at the cart. There were these 4 or 5 emerati guys. They are so super-cool they think. Nice guys though. But one had on these tight running style pants, and a swim shirt. He was getting his money out of his butt. I"m sorry, there is no other way to put it. Right smack in the middle of his behind, not to the side, but in the middle was a zipper pouch where he had his money. Now to be fair, his friends were razzing him big time. But even hubby and i were chuckling, and his friends saw. So they were smiling at us. But oh dear, when monkey saw. You can't say butt, no bathroom humor or bodyparts to him, he's 11. So the guy pulling money out of his butt, it was too much... He was cracking up giggling, and said "mom, he's pooping money!" So the guys friend heard, and asked monkey what he said, and of course he told him. So they are laughing together at this poor guy! It was funny, i guess body part humor is internationally funny. I somehow recall my dad saying something about did i think he pooped money too. I wonder if he had those pants?
Atlantis as we are about to go into the tunnel to get on the island.

Atlantis the Palm Jumeirah

The water

The boys on the shuttle bus

The ceiling at the waterpark.

Going in, so excited.

Ah, another beautiful sunset.

Allergies...

2011-05-25T02:12:00.000-07:00

Ugh! I thought coming out here would help midgets allergies. Well, boy was I wrong. Poor baby girl missed 2 days a couple weeks ago, and 2 this week. None of the medicine the pharmacist gave us helped. So we ventured out to the dr. After several phone calls, internet searches, we decided to give Al Noor Hospital a try. They have a paediatric clinic. Now yes, spell check says it is wrong, I saw it is wrong, but the brass plate on the hospital says that is how you spell it. So we asked for an appt when we called, this is the response i get. "Enshalla, you come wait, we will see you". Thanks lady! So in we go, 2 1/2 hours later we were seen. The dr was very nice, and she even spoke english! Hallelujah! So she has allergies, tell me something i don't know. Her nose was so bad it was bleeding :( So we got a note for school, 4 prescriptions, and a bit of advice to stay inside, she will be like this all summer. Not to inspiring a speech....
p.s. pediatric .... just saying :)

Finally.... made it to the dunes!

2011-05-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it was 120 degrees, and where were we... in the desert of course! Finally we all got to go, and we had a great time! Some of the dunes are so high... and when hubby would go to go down them, it was scary! But they don't do that rush in your stomach like roller coasters, it's a slow way down, so that is good :) He loves driving in them, and i can get it now. It is fun! The dunes are so beautiful! The way the sand ripples like the ocean is really mesmerizing. So here are some pics!

Pretty desert girl

Daddy letting some air out of the tires, so we can get traction on the dunes!

This was the weirdest, scariest thing! This guys truck was literally stuck smack on the top of the dune! It was a crest, so the middle of his truck was on the tip top! So handy manny in his jeep pulled him down. So fun to watch, but glad it wasn't us! It was a steeper drop than they thought!

Hubby's first tow with his tow rope. :)

He's the king of the world!!!

Beautiful!

View from the front seat!

Straight down....

My pajero :)

Family pic on the dunes... what you can't tell is the car is so lopsided we couldn't get out on the other side, as we couldn't open the doors!

Running camel, so cute!

Beautiful sunset

Jumping down the dunes, they swam too... you don't want to know how much sand was in weird places ;)

Setting up for the bar-b-que, and they even played some football!

Breathtaking!

Midget took this of us <3

Hubby was loving the crisp edges on the tops of the crests

Walking across the dunes...

The little diva posing..

It's freezing out!

2011-05-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ha!! It's so hot out there! It's muggy, and windy, and the sand is blowing in your eyes.... Other than that, it's great out :) So what does my husband want to do? Hey, honey, let's load the kids in the pajero and go drive in the sand dunes?! Fun, don't you think? I can't wait..... So that is what we are doing tomorrow, that and going to church. Maybe we can say a prayer in the church for a freak cold front?

Daddy's home!!!

2011-05-16T01:50:00.000-07:00

Finally, after nearly 2 weeks, he's home :) It was such a weird feeling dropping him off at the airport here. Not at all like being alone back home! I've never felt so stranded in my life! I kept thinking what if something happened to him? Or us? We are here by ourselves on the other side of the world! But i was ok, after a minute that freak out passed :) We kept ourselves busy, had cereal for dinner a few times :)
Poor hubby, he had his flight from Vegas to Chicago delayed, so he got stuck in chicago overnight. Then the flights to Abu Dhabi were all booked, so he had to fly through Toronto of all places to get here. Crazy! But he got me flip flops from Target, oh how i miss Target! There is nothing like the clearance section of Target to make a bad day go good.... sigh. He got monkey some shorts, as the shorts here, are not quite his style :) Plus they cost too much, 10 dollar shorts from Target, Hooray! Midget got a lovely purple bikini, and a lifeguard barbie... I still say grammie picked that out! I got cake stuff, woohoo! Thank you grammie, and the best thing that came home, and has eased one of my biggest worries.. I thought he was lost forever.....
Monkey's Soldier Bear!! His only stuffed animal he ever slept with, he's had him since he was 3 <3

So close... but not quite

2011-05-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hubby was so close to getting back from his trip, but no.... his plane was late so he won't be here until tomorrow :( The kids were dissapointed, but it's only a day.
We've spent the weekend swimming and going to lunch with some friends. We went to play nerfish paintball. You shoot the nerf balls, (as they were too young for the little rubber balls, thank goodness!). It adds a little oomph with a big puff of air. Of course leave it to the monkey to figure out if you take the attachment off you can still shoot the little rubber balls... It was fun though!
The guy seemed a bit surprised i wanted to do it.... Uh yes, i have lots of pent up aggression to get out!
She's ready for some revenge!

Hiding in the bags and behind the walls like in the games...

Does he not look like he's got an evil plan ready to go?

Those are the little rubber balls, and the nerf balls. He was trying to get to use those, but they hurt!

Pools, flowers, and Vegas.

2011-05-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well, that certainly sounds like an exciting life doesn't it? Not when they are in totally different order, and not in the same country! Hubby made it through his trip to Texas, we got what we needed there, and he had a nice visit. He even stopped by my moms house with his parents and got her hooked up on skype! Her face was priceless when we finally got to see her after 8 months! He got to hang with his parents, which was nice. It was funny skyping with him while he was staying there. Felt a bit like deja-vu from nearly 20 years ago. :) I have to say though, i'm getting a bit disgruntled stranded over here alone! It's definately a different feeling than being alone in Texas. It doesn't help that now he's at a conference in Las Vegas... Yes, that is a tad bit of envy you hear in my tone. :)
Here are some pics from a very fun party monkey went to, and we ended up staying at on Friday. He had the time of his life, and at one point they had 17 boys in that pool!! My over-protective mommy radar was blaring in my head. he played rugby, and midget played with the little sisters. I got to chat with my favorite British lady :) Had the best little snacks! Not low-fat at all , i am afraid. A baguette of bread sliced, with cream cheese on the bread, and a salami slice, and some had little gherkin pickles. It was so yummy!!!
Now this is one happy boy!!

I promise the boy does eat....

These are the lovely flowers midgets teacher gave me for helping her out. Funny thing is i gave her some from the exact same place! Great minds think alike :)

All hail the Queen...

2011-05-07T09:11:00.001-07:00

Here she is everyone...
Queen Elizabeth the !st

Their show was so great! They did an amazing job, and everyone looked so great :) I can't believe the teacher got them to remember all those lines, and parts. It was almost 25 minutes long, so for 7 and 8 yr olds, that is big!
How cute are they? Even the man with the Ax :)

Henry and a few of his wives :)

Some of the kids, aren't they fabulous!

The teacher's helper with midget and her classmate. Love her dress and hat!

The Teacher's helper, dancing around the gym with the kids, above and beyond the call :)

My baby girl in the stocks, she even had tissue paper cabbages thrown at her!

Their show was from the series Horrible histories. It is so funny! One song was called divorced, beheaded and died :)

Dubai... again.

2011-05-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

We had to get a costume for Midget for her assembly tomorrow. There is one shop here, that has a few costumes, but certainly not enough to be so specific as to say " I want a English Tudor costume in a sz 8, please." So we went to a costume shop in Dubai, a lovely one called Ben's. They luckily had one that will do, not queen Elizabeth, but good enough. We then went to Dubai Mall to get some gifts, and have a look around. We got something special for a certain Grammie, Can't wait for her to see it!! We went to Jumeirah beach to see it, as the kids and I never had. Omg, that place is amazing! Beautiful beach, and shops. Can't wait to go and stop and look around.
Hubby is on the plane now :( Hope his flight goes well. Not crazy about being here without him, but movies and fun will keep us busy. So jealous of all he will have access to back home!!
The beach at Jumeirah Beach

This is where they think they belong all the time!

Royal Wedding.

2011-05-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

Now those people know how to throw a wedding! Midget had her tea at school, sadly monkey didn't get to do anything special for the wedding. Although his form did win a trip to the bowling alley, and pizza for having the least marks on their conduct for the term. I think he preferred that to a tea anyway :)
The tea was lovely. Some of the moms brought different foods, like victorian sponge cake, egg mayo rolls, scones with jelly and cream cheese, some tea of course :) I brought tuna, which they don't do like we do in Texas :) Just tuna and mayonnaise? No eggs, no pickles, no onions, no mustard??? I got the recipe for some cucumber sandwiches, which oddly enough midget and monkey love! cucumber, cream cheese, and butter, that's it? I'm glad they are daring with their foods, and trying new things though :)
So we watched the wedding, monkey popped in and out of the room. But my sweet girl went bonkers for Harry as usual. He is quite handsome!

Getting our lesson on the proper way to make tea.

Watching the royal wedding.

Dilbert - The Knack full

2011-04-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

This is so cute. So appropriate for the family :) As hubby took things apart as a child, and monkey, and even midget are always taking things apart, just to see how they work. Some could say it's a bad thing, I say it's a good thing. How good they are, decides on how good my retirement home is :)
All hail the engineers!

ugh.... redness?

2011-04-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

Ugh... I just spent 25 minutes on the phone, after trying for 3 hours to get through to make an eye exam. Really? That was painful. First I spent 10 minutes trying to explain that i want an exam. "Why, what is the problem?" Um, i want to get them checked... "Why?" I get them checked every year... "Why".... Because the Dr who is more qualified than you says i should.....I didn't say that, but i should have :) Then I said i heard they had a specialist in the retina, that was recommended by the dr there my daughter saw. So she goes "redness?", i say no, retina... she says "yes, redness, allergies, watery eyes.." with a rude tone.. So i say retina...R-E-T-I-N-A. "Why you need him, you have report?" No, i go once a year, a yearly check-up.. So finally she switches me to someone who might know english as a second language, if she really tried. She was only minorly annoyed with me. She says if i need to see the retina specialist he is only here once a week, and is booked through next october. Nice.... So now i have an appt thursday, which means she must be really great right? :) Her name is Dr. gjhdjhfkjhdkshkh, and that is all i got. But she is an ophthalmologist, and the lady was actually offended i asked :)
So in honor of the language barrier i encountered today, which has driven me to eat this kit kat i don't need. I give you this, the outsourced clip on rubbers. When Monkey came home saying he needed rubbers for school, giggling. I had no idea, and nearly lost it. This is so funny :)

Wedding....and P.S. It's hot!!

2011-04-23T02:53:00.000-07:00

So being that the kids are at a British school, naturally the talk is of the wedding. I imagine it is everywhere really, as who isn't excited about a girl becoming a princess? Well, besides my husband:) I'm so glad though we are over here, as when we got up back home and I was a girl to watch Charles and Diana it was around 5 a.m.? I remember watching it though, and it was so amazing... So at least here it will be daytime.
The school is having a special day though, and we are doing a "proper" British tea. So I volunteered to help, as it sounds like fun! Well someone please explain "proper" tea sandwiches? I emailed the lady to make sure.... But eewww.... cucumber sandwiches?
I'm supposed to bring cookies also, and I'm guessing not chocolate chip :)
So i'm off to google what in the world these tea sandwiches are, and to hop in the pool. It is hot enough now to where it isn't cold enough to give you frostbite in the pool. And it's 102 degrees out! I'm thinking June is going to be rough....
Cheerio!

Easter Bruch at the Fairmont

2011-04-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

We had the most wonderful day! We had reservations for the Easter brunch at the Fairmont Hotel here in Abu Dhabi. The hotel is very modern, and beautiful inside. The food.... oh the food was absolutely amazing!! The brunch was from 12 to 4. Our favorite British family joined us, and we had such a great time. The kids were thrilled their friends were there. Monkey, has discovered he loves to eat...... of all things... OCTOPUS!! They would make fresh pasta, midget picked which one she wanted, the guy sauteed the garlic and made the whole things fresh right there! They had lobster, shrimp, lamb, chicken, any and everything you could ever want. It was in 3 restaurants, and the desert bar.... oh.. my... gawd..... There was a chocolate fountain, so you know where midget was :) Little cones with chocolate mouse in them, with little decorated chocolate wafers with bunnies on them. You can't even imagine the deserts... I've never seen anything like it :) This i could get used to :)

Midget hunting in the bushes for eggs...
Just a note, there is no chocolate in them, 100 degrees out! So they traded tokens for bags of chocolate :)

Blowing some bubbles with her new shades :)

Monkey was loving all the sushi!

Midget and her BFF painting some eggs

Monkey eating... Octopus!

The boys playing video games at the hotel

Monkey and his buddy looking for eggs

Midget looking for eggs

Easter baskets

Monkey driving his new boat in the pool

Monkeys basket

Pretty girl

Girls hanging out in the booth

Silly boys...

P.S. We had to do Easter today, as Sunday is a school day :(

To the dunes! almost...

2011-04-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

We were all set to go out on the dunes. Finally we were going to take my car, the Pajero. But alas, the Gods had other plans. Hubby had taken the back bumper off, as apparently the more experienced dune riders he goes with, the Germans, had informed him that the back bumper acts like a shovel, scoops all the sand and then holds it, which in the end yanks it off your car. Not good. So about 30 minutes before we were to leave, Monkey throws up all over the living room floor. That wsa that, and we all know who was the one to stay. So this time midget got to go with her dad, and they had a great time. :) Luckily in about 6 hours monkey felt better. So we stayed here, he slept and i watched season 2 of the Good Wife. Wild times in our house....
Someday, i will get to go out on the dunes!

The cute, the furry, and the floaters.

2011-04-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

The kids and I have been a bit bored on this never-ending term break. I can't believe how long this break is! It's 17 days, that's a long time. So we decided to liven things up a bit and go the the Kids Park Zoo that is right here in Abu Dhabi. I have mixed feelings about the place. Yes, it has potential to be nice. However, the billy goat, if that is what it was with his head stuck in gate was a bit concerning for the kids. I felt so bad for the adorable Brown Bear, who was walking laps, 17 which we counted, in the heat. I guess we were comparing it to the Houston Zoo, which was so nice. There was a school with local kids there, and the kids were shoving mine out of the way. They did have some super-cute monkeys, and some beautiful white tigers though. The kids had a great time feeding the baby goats. For 3 dirhams a bottle they got to feed them a bottle. The guy let them out and they followed the kids making baby goat noises. So adorable.... Sadly then, Monkey asked if they starved them so they would eat the bottles from the people. A little too wise for his own good.. They looked healthy though, and were so cute.
Then we got to the duck pond, and midget was saying how cute, then monkey comes out with is that duck dead? Ummm.... well, you have a floater mr. zooman......
I tried to walk off before we had to see the man with a broom and dustpan scoop it up in front of the kids. He didn't seem surprised.. scary.
Overall thought, it was fun for the kids. A nice way to spend the morning :)
Be warned... cuteness below!

The blue on this bird, was amazing...

Monkey said, "Take a picture mom, and be sure to say look guys, we cornered a helpless peacock in an alleyway" :)

I think Monkey is getting hair tips from him :)

Gorgeous!!

Brown bear, brown bear what do you see? I see a bear making laps, training for a marathon.

Itty-bitty baby monkey, so cute!

People, we have a floater....

Stuck goat?

The break...

2011-04-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

So we are almost done with our break. We had to stay home yesterday waiting on our overpriced crystal light packets, and our steak seasoning. I didn't realize, i had actually got 6 bottles, i thought it was 3. We are set for the next 3 years i think :) My bad.... We have enough crystal light for a long while, i hope. I was so loving my tea yesterday, as the tea here just isn't the same. Except at the ponderossa. I keep asking hubby can you bring some home? Oh to have the sonic drive in, and some sweet tea... and a cheeseburger, and fries..... Soon my friends, soon. I shall be home to help with the American economy, and put target back into the red. :)
Although my 370 dirham aramex fee has helped immensely i am sure...
Now to find something to do today :)

Aramex... Live and Learn

2011-04-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

So living out here, lots (Actually most) places won't ship things to you. Which when you are living in a foreign country is not a good thing :) Sometimes you just miss the comforts of home. For example, the hubby loves to grill. We got a fabulous grill off dubizzle. For years he has used this one spice on his steaks and burgers. So when he naturally couldn't find it here, I decided to order it for him. His spice of preference is Fiesta steak seasoning. Well i found it on amazon, and it was 11 dollars, for a 3 pack. Bingo!

So then i stumbled across the crystal light individual packets, which i love. The kids love, and if it gets monkey to drink water, we need that! He doesn't drink it plain. It taste bad he says. Go figure... So those came in a 6 pack, so we got some of those. Then there was the nytol, which i need my ZZZZ's. And lo and behold, there were the pencil grips we needed for Midget and her handwriting crisis. So i ordered away... Thanking heaven for Aramex. Then i thought woohoo, i'm a member of Amazon Prime. How great is that, free shipping....
NOT GREAT!!! Not great at all!! Apparently that means they ship it as quickly as it becomes available. So i now have 4 deliveries coming. Not to mention one that is going to be sent back, you can't ship hairspray here, my dear Aussie, we will have to meet again someday... What this means, is we will be charged by aramex for each and every delivery, individually!! Yes, hubby is ready to say I told you so, it's coming i am sure :) I thought i had done so well too, i ordered it all from amazon, so that it wouldn't ship from the different people, and we wouldn't have this happen... so close!!!
So, lesson learned. An expensive lesson. So far, we are up to about 350 dirhams, which is about 85 dollars :( That's some expensive seasoning, and crystal light, and i think i'm paying about 25 dollars, for 4 dollar pencil grips!!

Plant Souks

2011-04-09T01:51:00.000-07:00

A while back i had gone to the plant souks to get some plants. My beautiful yellow roses died, i suppose that shouldn't be surprising. My black thumb, and this weather. Our house is blocked by the villa in front. So it's hot, but somewhat in the shade. I've noticed everyone here has bouganvillia, so i got a couple of those. Cross your fingers i don't kiil them too..
The plant souk is a neat place though. It's a whole row of plant shops, and you can haggle the prices. So that is fun. I got both big plants, for 60 dirhams. So that is about 14 dollars? The man carried them to my car. Very nice. I got the special price, just for me :) Of course, the next lady probably got the same one just for her. I love going there though, it's so much fun to wander and look at the plants. On the other side are some pots, and what is like a flea market with all kinds of things. We got our giant trash can over there :)

Break

2011-04-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

We are on break for the end of term, and it's been nice :) A break is certainly a good thing! Now if i could just get the cat to stop meowing, or get hubby to feed him when he gets up. Sheldon is used to me feeding him as soon as i get up, so he doesn't get why hubby doesn't go feed him a.s.a.p. :) So even if i wanted to sleep in, not going to happen :( Plus this house is so loud! The tile everywhere is nice, but it makes for echoes and banging doors.
We had a company picnic at a local park on Friday, at 1 p.m. Not the best time since it's the hottest part of the day. So the pale people, we were melting! The kids had a great time though. They had a face painter and monkey got to see hubby's boss' son, who loves games and is his age. After that we went to get a patio set, i've been begging for months now. Finally the set went on sale, and the weather is so fabulous right now, it is just wrong to not eat outside. We got hubby a awesome grill off dubizzle, the craigslist off the middle east. With so many people coming and going, if you are patient you can find some awesome deals! So now we have to wait until the 16th to get it delievered. They didn't have it to pick up, and it wouldn't be available to pick up until the 10th, so free set up, was worth the extra few days. We also ate at a yummy place, called the Ponderosa. Okay, yummy may be a stretch, but it was a buffet, with queso, and Sweet Tea!! Sweet tea, i could have died and gone to heaven. I must have drank 3 glasses. It was like Texas in a glass. :)
Goofy boy, he had to have the mustache and goatee!

Let me just say, this is an awful pic, but her face paint was amazing a few hours, and before her glasses smeared it. They even had glitter in it!

The buffet at Ponderosa, and yes that is a Texas flag!!

Week is almost over... whew

2011-03-30T05:10:00.000-07:00

This week seems like it will never end! Monkey had his presentation for the Challenge at school. He did a fabulous job, but sad to say they gave the award to a yr 9 girl who made a board game. Which when i stop being his mom, i can see how that did take a lot of work. My complaint about it is that all the kids did such totally different things, that I don't see how they could choose. They narrowed them down to 6, his movie, 2 stories, a ecology study, and a board game. Could they be any more different? But, he was a trooper, there were no tears, from him anyway :) All of the teachers and judges said he did a great, great job. Truth be told, i saw one of the heads who he interviewed, and she was floored he lost too. He was apparently one of the youngest in it, and that was shocking to the judges. so it was sad, it really stinks to see your baby lose, but i guess everyone is someone's baby. The girls dad was so gracious though, and stopped monkey on the way out to tell him what a great job he did. That was nice. So i guess the praise he is getting, is making his hard work worthwhile. Now if i could figure out how to get it on here.....

Book Day

2011-03-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

The kids had book day at school yesterday, and had so much fun. It was funny to see all the kids and teachers dressed up. I wish I had gotten a picture of some of the teachers, they were all dressed up as where's waldo(forgive me, it's wally here :). Midgets new love is Pippi Longstocking, we've been reading them for a while at bedtime. So, when she heard of book day she squealed, "I can be Pippi, she's a hero!" That was easy enough, we bent a hanger, painted it, and she had all the clothes already. It suited her to a T. And once she put the costume on, she even acts like her :)
Monkey likes the green hornet. So I found him the hat, which he now loves to where, which is very cute :) I lucked into the suit at a store called Lulu's. 82 dirhams, which is around 20 dollars! A 3 piece suit. he absolutely loves it. Which is somewhat funny, as he has always loved dressing up. When he was 3, he had a christmas outfit, it came with a blue velvet vest. He wore that vest everywhere we went, shorts, didn't matter, the vest was there. Last year it was a corduroy blazer, so this is perfect. He even hung it up carefully next to his dads suits. So adorable! Now the only mask i could find was a green glittery one, which didn't thrill him. Of course as it got warmer during the day, the Green Hornet lost his jacket and mask, and monkey said he became Al Capone, how clever is that!
He also had his play shown on the big screen at assembly. It was a bit long for that and the kids were antsy, so we couldn't hear it well though. But still, that was exciting. And to top it all off, Midget won an award for her costume in her class, and an award for Best Book Cover design for all of year 3! She got a dictionary, and her cover is going to be displayed at the school. I didn't know anything about it, so I am dying to see. So it was a great day for our kids, we couldn't be prouder! Luckily dad was there to see it all, and he was so happy he couldn't quit beaming <3Here's Pippi Longstocking!

The Green Hornet, and his backpack all set for school :)

Midget's class..

Midget's teacher, as Enid, the naughtiest girl in school

Monkey is on the big screen!

The Green Hornet at assembly.

Midget and her best costume!

Midget getting her award, it didn't turn out as a good picture :(

Weekend

2011-03-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

We did have a fabulous weekend! Midget got to ride her horse, and she was thrilled beyond belief. Her dad was thrilled as it was the first time he had seen her on a horse. He was shocked at how at ease she was with them. She is not intimidated at all, just climbs right up and is happy as can be. The equestrian centre, is a nice little place, with all kinds of animals. Monkey loved playing with the cats all around and the chickens. Who doesn't love to run with a few chickens?!
There is a beach right by the horse place so we stopped and played a bit before grabbing some dinner. This country drives me mad as there aren't any quick drive thrus. So you have to go to a strip center and wait, or go to a gas station. Yes, a gas station. They have restaurants in them, like home i suppose. This one has a domino's, burger king, baskin robbins, dunkin donuts, and a few other little unknown cafe's. So strange!
Yesterday the boys went duning. They had a blast again, i think hubby has a new hobby. Now a few friends went for the first time, and are hooked also!

Check out that grin!

Monkey was loving that swing, the cats kept coming up to him :)

Fun Weekend Ahead!

2011-03-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

T.G.I.T!!! That just doesn't have the same ring as T.G.I.F... But I will think it anyway :) Tonight we have been asked to watch our friends kids. Midget is thrilled beyond belief, as it includes the new twins. Frankly, I get my baby bug fix, and get to send them home and sleep all night :) Their big brother always has fun playing with the kids too. It's nice to see them all play together. I am wondering if they will change their mind, as it's the first time leaving the babies i think. We shall see. We are ready and willing though!
After school today we are stopping at the German Vet Clinic for a little surprise for midget also. Tomorrow she has her first riding lesson out here! I am not sure who is more excited me or her. Monkey is looking forward to it also, they are a animal rescue place, so they have tons of animals out there too. It's a huge piece of land with a petting zoo out there also. Fun, fun, fun!
We also are starting to edit monkeys film. He has interviewed around 11 people, we still need some emerati's. Hubby found a few at a 4 by 4 shop, where he got a roof rack for the jeep. Silly boy... He's all excited about this duning he's been doing. But he is going to talk to the man about monkey interviewing him. He's even a police officer here! He gave us all the info on the goings on here in the uae with the worry about the protesting in the region. We are good here he says, the stuff in Oman is escalating quite a bit. The Saudi's have sent in the military, and it sounds like a religious crisis brewing. This country screens (not good of course, but in this case it is ), so the ones protesting wouldn't be here so much to do it. It's worrisome though. But that is what is going on in Kuwait, and Oman. It's growing in noise it seems. We got the travel warning from the embassy not to go there if you can avoid it. I will do just that! Sad though, we are out here, it's so cheap to go places like Egypt and Oman, and now we can't! It would have been a great end of term break, especially with the kids studying Egypt :(
Then after all that, Saturday the boys are going duning with a co-worker who just got a awesome deal on a hummer. They are all driving their cars out to do drive in the dunes. Monkey loves doing it! I am debating if we will go or not. I want to, just don't want midget to get out there, freak out, and ruin it for the boys. We will see, but i am so ready to start this weekend!

Mummytime and bake sales

2011-03-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

So in midgets ongoing Egyptian unit, we made a mummy. We made the coffin, and she even made the fruits and all kinds of accesories. She had so much fun, and actually so did I. It's cute to see her spouting facts. Did you know that they pulled their brains out their noses, before putting them in a jar, when preparing them? EEWWWW....,
It's really interesting actually. :)
And for the bake sale, wow. The school made over 16,000 dirhams, that's around 4000 dollars! We even had the ambassador from New Zealand come by. He was very nice, and very grateful. The heat melted some cupcakes, but the kids loved all the cakes, and it was fun chatting with the other moms, or mummies :)
Now we are on to Japan fundraising.
Midget painting her sarcophagus.

Note the jars with the body parts out of play doh :)

She is so proud of herself!

Ambassador of New Zealand :

Ok, so i did make some biscuit things that were new zealandish, but cupcakes, you can't go wrong. Throw a New Zealand flag, and it's New Zealandish!

All Black Day

2011-03-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

Since the kids go to an "international" school, it seems with all these horrible disasters going on around the world that they seem to know someone affected by each. It's a good thing, in the way it is making them much more aware to the things going on far away, but it is bad in the same aspect. When Pakistan had all the flooding, they had Green Day. The kids paid to have a free dress day, but still wore green. They had the option of donating more, and midget gave all her piggy savings. They have another day on Monday, all black day for New Zealand. There are alot more people at school, including staff, who are from New Zealand. They are also having a bake sale, i have volunteered t bake, and man a stall. They have some interesting recipes, don't seem t like the typical chocolate iced cupcakes? Scones, and smething like peanut brittle called hokey pokey? It's for a good cause, and midget and monkey are all excited to help bake, and taste test, tomorrow. Cross your fingers these things turn out edible, and i don't poison anyone!

First Dune Bashing Run

2011-03-07T07:54:00.001-08:00

A little video from monkey's 1st run in the Jeep over the dunes.

This is for you...

2011-03-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

Polly this is for you :) and Bob, you know the Dr Pepper, i found it out here! So we will be getting a bed ready for you :)
You Know You're a Texan When....
I ganked this one from Lane out on myspace...it's entirely too funny not to share, especially since I can relate to each and every thing on here! LOL!

You know youre a texan when...

*You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Palestine, Decatur, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Mexia, Waco, and Amarillo.
*A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.
*You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
*You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.
*You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
*You measure distance in minutes.
*Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions. (So funny, in a crock pot with bar b que sauce!)
*You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.
*You know cowpies are not made of beef.
*Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.
*You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.
*You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.
*A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Chevy 3500 4x4 is.
*You know everything goes better with Ranch. Midget totally does, and has taken carrots with ranch for her snack. She has now shared this wealth with the british and emeratis :)!
*You actually get these jokes and are "fixin' " to send them to your friends.
*You go to the river/lake because you think it is like going to the
ocean.
*You think "y'all" is perfectly good usage if you're referring to more than one person. So having issues not saying that out here, and now the kids say it in an arabic country with a british accent :)
*Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:
"You wanna coke?"
"Yeah."
"What kind?"
"Dr. Pepper." I don't even need to admit it, it's just a given :)

School projects.....

2011-03-07T01:10:00.000-08:00

Glitter, pipe cleaners, straws, fabric and poster-boards, oh my! So my sweet midget had a poster to do on Egypt, she picked the god Ra. Quite interesting actually. Next week we are making a mummy, last week we made a crossword. Her new teacher is doing units. Where each week we pick one things from a column with a choice of poster, craft, paper projects. It's quite fun actually. :) She did really well printing, and cutting, her little brain was going a mile a minute. She's quite proud of it.
Now monkey had puppets due the same day... a few blisters later we have learned the glue gun here goes a lot hotter than ours back home! He made the puppets to go with a story he wrote. They are going to choose a story and puppets and put a play on for the little kids at school. I think his story was great, but a bit gory for four year olds, but who knows :)

Monkey and his puppets, the white one is a beast, and that is blood on the horns. Made of straw and fabric..

Midgets Ra poster... That is a pipe cleaner snake with googlie eyes..

My little hole in the wall stationary store, love this place!

Long week...

2011-03-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

This was a crazy week with school work, hubby's work. It was long, but we survived, and it's been a fun weekend. The boys went sand duning with some co-worker's, and locals. They had a blast! I need to get the pics from monkey's phone. They wanted to go without us this time :) I am not sure how i feel about being vertical in a jeep in the sand. We will see :) Midget and I went shopping, got some shoes, and had dinner. She rode the hamster ball again, and was thrilled. We rode back with the sunroof open and katy perry, she declared she had the best night ever, can't ask for more than that!

Polly, this is for you, this is Texas Hair....

Nicely done :)

This I would have killed for, and truth be told might still.

Here's a funny old Texas monthly article :)
Texas Big Hair....
Hooray for Big Hair!
Cover Image

From Farrah to Ann, Texas women have combed, curled, teased, and tousled their way into the national consciousness. Who says bigger isn’t better?

by Skip Hollandsworth

It arrives like a blimp, floating ethereally through the door before the rest of the woman’s body does. For a moment, you can look at nothing else. You try to stare at the woman’s face, at her dress, even down at her shoes—but your eyes keep wandering upward. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, you find yourself once again awestruck by that towering, impenetrable edifice known as…Big Hair.

The most scorned fashion statement of our day, the target of rabid eradication campaigns by modern hairstylists, Big Hair hangs on like a buzzard in the desert. I, for one, am glad. At the risk of sounding socially impaired, I must confess that I love Big Hair.

I mean really big. I love the old-fashioned bouf-le-dos made popular again by Governor Ann Richards, and I love the wild curled-all-over hair of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. I love the way West ...

2011-02-28T21:37:00.001-08:00

Colds, sunburns and homework..

2011-02-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

We've had a busy few days. Both kids had shared a cold with each other, so both missed a day of school this week. Which led to homework to catch up on. This weekend we went to a friends house so the hubby could help them with their internet. These houses all have concrete walls, so wireless internet is quite tricky. He likes to say the walls are like kryptonite :) We had a lovely time though, it's the kids friends from school. We ate some chinese food, had some wine, and chatted the night away. They are a very nice family, and we love to spend time with them. Their son was home from boarding school, he's a very nice boy. I learned that i don't have to worry about monkey's grades to much! I found out he is where he should be. Apparently his targets aren't for the end of the year this year, but for the end of his stage. Which is year 9. So it seems it's more about the stages, than the years. He is key stage 3, which is years 7 to 9. So his target was a 7b, and he was at a 5b. Well it hadn't changed at the time of his report. So i was wondering how in three months he was to go up that much?! When he hadn't moved at all, but it's not supposed to go that much. So he has until year 9, not the next 3 months. What a relief! I hope that made sense to someone, as it barely does in my head. Basically he is doing find, and i think i might understand this system a bit more :) Monkey got to sleep over with his friend that night, and he was happy. Midget was sad, she wanted to stay but her friend had gotten what they all had earlier in the week. It worked out well though as she had forgotten to get me an invitation so i would know about her other friends party. The mom called the next morning asking if she was coming... oops. So i ran her over there and she got to stay for part of it. So it all worked out in the end. Boy do i miss doing nothing sometimes! I believe i should put a meter in the car for all the back and forth we do here. But the kids are having fun, so that's what counts. So that is all we have been doing. Catching up on school work, trying to teach midget her times tables and division, which is no easy task. Helping monkey on his project, which is doing at the end of this month, and trying to keep the germs at bay :)

Geocaching...

2011-02-20T21:37:00.000-08:00

So my hubby has a new hobby. Geocaching... although they haven't found anything yet, they have had fun trying a few times. Which i believe this hobby goes with the logic of it's half the fun getting there. There are apps for his phone, and blogs and forums giving locations for these said "caches". So here is the definition of it:
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (tupperware or similar) or ammo boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching is often described as a "game of high-tech hide and seek," sharing many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

Hubby had some gps coordinates for a couple of them about 30 minutes from here. We drove out and found the coordinates, finally found the container, but it was empty :( Talk about alot of build up for nothing. But the guys had fun looking. Midget and i were a little worried about snakes, as we had just seen a news show about snakes, and had read about snakes in the desert. We waited in the car.. Maybe there is a cache in a nice snake free zone? Midget and some friends went with the dads and looked, and found none but had loads of fun digging. I might just need to go plant one they can find to keep their spirits up :)
A ‘muggle’, in Geocaching terms, is a non-Geocacher, a person not playing the game, and usually not aware of Geocaching. The term is based on ‘muggle’ from the Harry Potter book series by A. K. Rowling which refers to a non-magical person.

The concern with muggles is that they may discover a Geocache, either accidently or by seeing a Geocacher accessing it, and then possibly destroying it. This is referred to as the Geocache being ‘muggled’.
Apparently the muggles get to them...

So there was an empty tube inside the little hole in this barrier in the middle of a desert field.

There was supposed to be one in a pile of rocks on top of that hill, but none :( There was a gecko nest!

The nose plug make de ear hurt....

2011-02-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

So poor little midgets ear was sore, and her nose was oozing green goo. It had stopped and she had no fever, and then last night it came back. So, rather than sending her to school, I took her to the SEHA Clinic here. You can walk in and see someone. It's a nice new building around the corner from our house. Of course as I walk up, the signs are in arabic with arrows. This doesn't help me, so the guard tells me ladies go that way! Um, okay, thanks? Sure enough, ladies to one side, men to the other. OH how I was wishing for my lovely Dr. Talbot in his Hawaiian shirts who has card for Monkey since he had his first ear infection when he was 2 1/2, and he cared for midget since her first snorty little piggy breaths.... :( But no, we had DR. something something Muhamed something something Alkazariad. And no, he didn't have a lovely hawaian shirt on either. Once we got it, there were the sith all around us, and a few british or dutch ladies. When we took our number, and were called back 15 minutes later to fill out the registration forms the lady was nice in her monogrammed hijab, that was quite cute, it was in crystals no less. She had to repeat herself a few times, but was nice about it and smiled. Then we were sent to the other side, which i was baffled at as it was the "mans side?" But apparently if they send you there its ok? Once they call us, and these people never say her name right, she is alice here...? We go in and went in the wrong room, sat there and was looked at oddly by the dr. Finally after about 5 minutes of him staring at an xray, which was a mammogram, this other guy says are you alice? Well, actually no, but sure lets go with that... You are here, and points to his room. Well when you call someone back, how about you wait for us with the door open so we know that? Once he looks her over, and he was nice. He says she is fine. Really? Because i tend to think green goo oozing out of any body part, is not. So i said her ear was sore and she had green stuff out her nose? He says she fine, and points to his ear, and says the nose plug makes da ear hurt... Wow, really? You went to med school where again? But then gives us some medicine, so no infection requires medicine? Strange.... But he also gave us some nose spray for allergies, which i am wondering if it is too. The dust has been blowing for a month, but is supposed to stop soon. Strange experiences :) But just remember, if your ear ever hurts, the nose plug does it... ;)

Funny things...

2011-02-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

So Midget and Monkey have these wonderful friends from school. Sweet, sweet kids. It works out well too, as the boy is in Monkey's grade, and the girl is in Midget's. They have one older sister who is at that horribly rough age, and she is funny. A flashback to those angry years :) But they are British, and I still am amazed at the differences in the children. I have come to the conclusion that we Americans are quite loud, and we don't stop our own thoughts from coming out. I yell at my kids, and pretty much every one i know does too. I didn't went they were small mind you, but now I do. Maybe from sheer frustration? It's not right, i'm not mean, just sometimes their comes a point where if i don't yell i will go mad. But their friends mom, is just the nicest, most polite wonderful person I have ever met. I adore her. I have never ever heard her raise her voice. There is just this way she says her children s names, with the sound of disappointment, and a pause, and that is it.
"Oh, boy quantity one....". I swear i feel so bad after screaming at mine. But the other day her daughter was driving her crazy i could see it, and it came...
A slight raised voice, and an "I'm so irritated". I am thinking that was it, full on British rage? It's just funny. I admire their restraint. But then i wonder is it good for them? Do they have people get all pent up and go crazy in post offices? Do their moms lose it and drown their kids? I wonder who is living a healthier way? I mean really, half the moms i knew back home were on anti-depressants. Maybe they just have a better hold on their emotions. It's just funny to me to see how different we are, but we can still get along so well. I thank heaven for her kids though, they have certainly brought immense amounts of joy to mine. :)
As for our break, as it is mid-term break here. We had fun the first part, and then boom... Midget got an awful cold, and we've been rather home bound. It has certainly been bad timing. Monkey had his British friend sleep over, which of course didn't sit well as his sister couldn't come for her. Poor little one....

Jebel Hafeet

2011-02-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

When we went to the airshow in Al Ain, we also stopped off at the mountain there. It's called Jebel Hafeet. It is a beautiful drive up there, and it's hard to believe it's out here. I was quite surprised by the safety walls along the side, in a good way. They were actually there :) The views were amazing on the way up, and even more so on the way down. Apparently the road up the mountain is famous. They use it to test drive Jaguars, Mercedes and it's in several car commercials. At the top there is a look out, a restaurant with rides, of course, why not? It was a little strange actually, it felt a bit like the twilight zone. It's beautiful though isn't it?

Dan Rather in the making...

2011-02-14T21:53:00.000-08:00

So my little man is working on a project for school. I think it is turning into more work than he would like. However, it was such a good idea, his teacher has now hounded him into begrudgingly doing it. I'm excited about it too though. His project is going to be a movie on diversity in the UAE. There is a beautiful series of statues here, that sparked his imagination. Plus, you can't help but notice the different nationalities.
So today, he got in his email a meeting invite :) There is a lovely, lovely woman who works with his dad. She is such a sweet lady. Midget loves her, she talks about her fashion sense. She sends little gifts home for her with her dad, and in return midget sends special drawings of fashion shows, and princesses. So she is from Jordan. She has agreed to be "interviewed" by our budding Dan Rather. They have a conference room all set up for tomorrow. He's got his flip camera all set, and his questions are all written out. I can't wait to see this :) So what he is doing is he is interviewing some grown-ups, and then some friends from school, and some neighbors. We have a small melting pot going on around us. So this should be quite the project once he completes it.

Dubai Mall :)

2011-02-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

So we went to the Dubai Mall, which claims to be the biggest mall in the world. I had though that was Mall of America? Maybe that is the biggest one in America? So this mall is so big, I doubt we have seen half of it. It's got a fabulous aquarium in it. When i saw aquarium, i mean full blown wall of fish, inside there is sections with all kinds of fish, snakes and other things, and oh, a glass bottom boat ride, and room where you can dive to get PADI qualified. I mean what mall doesn't have that right? The kids LOVED the aquarium. I was happy, as they were both spouting out facts about different animals. The penguins from midget, as her class is called the penguins. I love them anyway, and she seems to know every fact there is :) Monkey was all into the crustaceans. They had just learned about them in science. It was nice to hear them learning, and made me feel warm and fuzzy about their education, as it's half the reason we came out here. We then went shopping a bit, they have a pottery barn kids, oh that store is my biggest weakness! Their bedding is such good quality though, and they had a purple quilt midget loved, so we had ordered it back home. It was on backorder, and that was a big reason she was sleeping in her room was to earn it... oops. So they had it, once i cancelled mine today, i went back and got it. However, while we shopped midget had the time of her life!!
Kidzania is a city for kids. Now our museum back home had one street of a city for kids. This place was AMAZING!! I didn't even get to go in, but you can bet i am going next time. She checked in with the emirates airlines people, and it was just like the airport. She got a ticket and all. when she goes in, she got an acct, earned money, got her nails done at the salon, had a concert, rode in an ambulance... now this i saw and i was so amazed... there was a real ambulance it looked like it was on a golf cart frame maybe? But it was driving around, with lights and sirens, and there were kids inside being dr's and patients... can you believe that?? there was an airplane in there, a fire truck, cop car, and everything you can imagine. There are grown-ups working in the building to help the kids and do things like nails and make up... poor girl got her make up done. When i saw the kids coming through the migration office-where you get them at.. just like customs :).. i was thinking please lord no... there make up was awful, blue eye shadow, pink cheeks and hot pink lipstick. But i knew it, she had called us from her phone all along. "mom, i'm in a move, don't call me", "mom i'm getting baskin robbins, is that ok?" "mom, you aren't coming to get me are you?", and the last one "mom, i'm getting my nails and make up done, is that ok", i thought she was kidding... but no. When she came out, there she was, looking like a crazy person had put her make up on. Worse thing was she knew it, she was embarrassed. I told her it looked fabulous, but omg.. But she had the time of her life :) I can't wait to go in with her next time.. i was so jealous :) Monkey wandered with us and got some new skinny jeans. We saw the little skate park in the skate shop. Which is a small bowl, and not at all what we heard it was. But we watched the guys skate for a while. He liked that. I think he liked the time with us alone too. We went to the hershey store and got 3 bags of twizzlers. We are set for the movie theater now!
So then today as i mentioned i drove with the kids, from Abu Dhabi to Dubail Mall, all by myself! This is huge, I've been so scared to do it. It only takes an hour, but the roads aren't like home, you can't just make a u-turn, it's an ordeal if you miss an exit. So i white-knuckled it into Dubai. Made it there, got her bedding and had lunch at Chilli's. I was quite pleased with myself.

My little man, happy at taco bell.. before we knew of the lawsuit :O

Midget with her boarding pass at kidzania

At the aquarium

Glass Bottom Boat

Really neat Fountain

Cooking....

2011-02-10T01:37:00.000-08:00

So cooking here is a great thing, but there is a challenge at times. I have to admit I was very much a cook of convenience. While hubby was away, it would be most frustrating to spend an hour cooking something, to have the 2 kids snub there nose at it, or pick at it like birds. Yes mom, I used your phrase :) So often it was a drive thru, which is lacking here, or velveeta shells and cheese, or fish sticks, a giant ham slice. That way I would atleast know they would eat.
So now that we are here, and there is a grown up here besides me to eat, cooking is a good thing again. But, there are no conveniences. It's very much a cooking from scratch kind of place. The convenience foods that are available, are a bit pricey. So, a friend who came here with us has this fabulous cookbook. She said there is a website, and it's fabulous! I am so excited to try some of these recipes and get the book. She is called the Pioneer Woman. She too got uprooted and moved, to the country, not the desert :)
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/
So the woman cooks from scratch. Which is what they seem to do here. It is very economical. So, the hubby will be thrilled with this!

Al Ain Air Show

2011-02-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

So Friday we decided to have some fun and go on a little day trip. Al Ain was having their annual air show, and we used to love going to the air show back home. It only took an hour and a half to get there, so that made it even better. The weather was absolutely perfect, which after the week of sandiness we had was much appreciated! There were planes from all over. Saudi, Turkey, America, Italy, Russia and a few other places i don't remember.
There was one plane called Catwalk. It had girls that walked along the top and all around the plane, crazy! Even worse, they were gorgeous scandanavian girls, in yellow and black catsuits with ears and tails. The men certainly enjoyed that.
We sat in the stands and watched them fly for a bit. They even did a imitation war scene. They had jets fly by and drop pretend bombs. That was kind of neat, and the kids (when i say kids i mean kids and hubby)loved that.
Then we walked around and looked at all the planes. Hubby and Monkey really enjoyed talking to the pilots and climbing on the planes and helicopters. The pilots were very nice, and midget made a new friend in one of them named Nasser. Sweet man. Overall a super fun time!

How funny is it that the saudi arabia jets did this?

Colds...

2011-02-03T02:35:00.000-08:00

Not the chilly kind, the stuffy head, fever wish you could rest kind.... and oh i would LOVE some Nyquil about now. Don't know whether it is the sand swirling around that has gotten us all sick, or just a regular cold. One by one we've gotten it. The sand was flying around for about 3 days, and it's EVERYWHERE. So i've been trying to get it all up.
I read this interesting article in the newspaper here. I had hear the term "third-culture kids", they used the term "expat brat". I prefer the first :) However, i can get the latter also.. It is a nice article, and I hope my children embrace the lifestyle as these children do. Interestingly enough Monkey was talking with our neighbor in the car on the way home about what they wanted to be when they grow up. Monkey had a long list, but all realistic things. :) A travel writer, a engineer who would make parts for the rockets, or a helicopter pilot. As for midget, she's going to be octo-mom i fear, with her 8 dolls :)

Teenagers put paid to the myth of 'expat brats'

Sarah Hedley Hymers

Last Updated: Feb 2, 2011
The "expat brats" who are anything but, from left to right: Robyn Glennie, James Bonner, Laura Worger and Rohit Zachariah.

The "expat brats" who are anything but, from left to right: Robyn Glennie, James Bonner, Laura Worger and Rohit Zachariah.

Tina Chang / The National
Laura Worger, 16, was inspired by Dubai's architecture to pursue a path to engineering.

Laura Worger, 16, was inspired by Dubai's architecture to pursue a path to engineering.

Tina Chang / The National
Rohit Zachariah, 16, counts Donal Trump among his influences for wanting to become an entrepreneur.

Rohit Zachariah, 16, counts Donal Trump among his influences for wanting to become an entrepreneur.

Tina Chang / The National
James Bonner, 16, aims to be a politician to improve the lot of people, already having received the Chief Scout Gold Award bestowed by the British Consulate for significant contributions to charity.

James Bonner, 16, aims to be a politician to improve the lot of people, already having received the Chief Scout Gold Award bestowed by the British Consulate for significant contributions to charity.

Tina Chang / The National
Robyn Glennie, 13, was voted by her class as the person they would be most likely to go to for help and aspires to be a teacher.

Robyn Glennie, 13, was voted by her class as the person they would be most likely to go to for help and aspires to be a teacher.

Tina Chang / The National

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From other shores, bringing with them their own cultures, customs and, of course, children, expats make up more than 85 per cent of the UAE population. Ever since moving here, I've heard the offspring of this demographic referred to, rather scathingly, as "expat brats". "Brat" by definition means unpleasant child, so it was with some trepidation that I set out to discover what this generation is made of.

Far from discovering an underbelly of little monsters, I was met by articulate, well-educated and emotionally intelligent young people who compare favourably to their counterparts in some other countries.

Louise Maister, 28, a teacher from the UK, used to work at a school in Liverpool before she came to teach in Abu Dhabi, and believes children here are better behaved than at home.

"The children are amazing and require very little discipline - a few stern words keeps them in line," she says. "It's not seen as cool to behave like a rebel, in fact quite the opposite is true. Back in the UK, it's a very different story. It's becoming increasingly difficult to manage the larger classes and some teachers genuinely have to worry for their own safety."

Certainly, in less strictly governed societies, multicultural melting pots can lead to all kinds of conflict, but here in the UAE, with its low crime rate and sunny climes, children soak up the influences of different cultures and enjoy varied social activities originating from all corners of the globe, including wakeboarding, skiing, kickboxing and any number of after-school groups, from good old Scouts and Brownies to the Emirates Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Such diverse influences and opportunities are set to pinball these kids towards exciting uncharted futures, but where exactly is this über-generation headed? I met four so-called expat brats to find out.

'I want to be an engineer'

Australian Laura Worger, 16, moved to the UAE when she was 10. The architecture of the region is among the inspirations that make her want to become an engineer

All parents like to think of a daughter as their little princess, but Laura Worger's composure is such that I'm actually reminded of the few times I've been in the presence of the British Royal Family. She is graceful, engaging and relaxed as she tells me about her national identity.

"My lineage is a bit confluent, to be honest," she admits, and I'm left wondering if I've ever heard anyone below the age of 40 use the term "confluent". "I identify as Australian," she tells me, "but I was born in Scotland to English and Rhodesian parents. We moved to Australia when I was a baby, so before living here that was where I called home."

As Laura talks about her many travels afforded by now living in a far more central location (she most recently returned from a charity expedition in Nepal), I'm reminded of a famous quote by TS Eliot: "... the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Or as Laura eloquently puts it: "Moving to the UAE has not only allowed me to experience Dubai and many other places, it's also allowed me to experience Australia, as I can now truly appreciate its cultural differences."

When she arrived in the land of landmarks, she was instantly struck by the UAE's feats of engineering. "So many things about the region fascinate me," she says. "For example, the lighting and sound rigs at various theatres and seeing the construction of Dubai's Metro - I can't stop myself trying to figure out exactly how everything works."

In preparation for her future career as an engineer, Laura has completed a Design and Technology GCSE, and is studying Physics and Mechanics at AS level at Dubai College. "This should set me up for a good university placing come 2013," she says, thinking ahead in a way that children often don't. "Though it sounds clichéd, I'd really like to work on resolving our energy problems by developing more efficient wind power, or work in automotive engineering to create a more eco-friendly, aerodynamic hybrid car."

Surprisingly, at the school Laura attends the traditionally male career pursuit of engineering is as popular with girls as it is with boys. "If being a female engineer is seen as unusual or a difficult path for a woman to follow elsewhere in the world, then I'm even more motivated to do it and do it well to prove that I can, regardless of gender," says the dedicated 16-year-old, who limits herself to just one hour of TV each evening. The educational MythBusters is her favourite show - she just can't get enough of the "engineering face-offs".

'I want to be an entrepreneur'

Rohit Zachariah, 16, born to Indian parents in Saudi Arabia, considers the US tycoon Donald Trump among his role models

Rohit Zachariah is headstrong and single-minded. The first words he says are: "Donald Trump says, 'What matters most is where you want to go', and what matters to me the most is becoming an entrepreneur." He looks like he means it.

"As a young child, I became interested in the business world through my family's ventures," explains Rohit, who would regularly read out the day's business headlines to his grandfather and organise the family collection of Business Week magazines. "I was amazed at how simple ideas like the Post-it note could be transformed into multimillion-dollar businesses."

Until he arrived in the UAE, Rohit's exposure to business, beyond that provided by his family, was limited to watching his hero, Trump, tutor apprentices on his hit TV show. But when Rohit's family moved to Dubai all that changed. Entering GEMS Wellington International School, Rohit came under the tutelage of Sajid Hussain, an innovative curriculum leader for the Business Studies and Economics Department.

Hussain selects entrepreneurial students from Years 10 to 13 to showcase, market and sell products to the public at the handmade goods market ARTE (Artisans of the Emirates), allowing students to experience all facets of a real business environment. The project has been a huge success with students and shoppers alike.

"Back in March, I experienced my first real business venture at ARTE when I took charge of my Year 10 business group, Chillax," says Rohit. "Our idea was to help people relax by selling them coconut water and customised stress balls. Some saw our business idea as bizarre and risky, but taking risks and having faith in yourself are cornerstone characteristics of being an entrepreneur. The risk paid off as we not only made a profit, we also won the Best Stall Design award."

For their second ARTE fair, Rohit and his team created Smart Cards, a trivia card game with an eco theme designed to spread awareness of global issues - they're pursuing an international patent. In the meantime, Rohit has been appointed assistant managing director of Young Business Minds, the student organisation responsible for running business ventures. "Honestly," he says in earnest, "to achieve what I have in the last few years in the UAE is absolutely astonishing for me and I'm honoured to be part of such a forward-thinking school."

'I want to be a politician'

James Bonner, 15, from the UK, has already won awards for his commitment to charity. He volunteers for the UAE's Mission for Seafarers' Angel Appeal, and his ambition is to improve life for other people

James' parents have a mantra: "You can be whatever you want to be." Having taken this advice to heart, their son has decided to aim high - he'd like to return to the UK some day to take over from the British prime minister.

"Given the chance, I'd do all I could to make sure that every person in this world gets a fair start to life - an education, medical treatment, clean water - no matter where they're from or what religious beliefs they hold," he promises with utmost sincerity. "Then, I'd do all I could to prevent climate change, to make sure that sulphur and carbon dioxide emissions remain low, and to find alternative energy resources to crude oil so our great grandchildren and theirs can live in a clean world."

It's a fairly rousing political speech, albeit one we might have heard before, but James isn't merely spouting hot air like so many politicians. He's already dedicated much of his youth to making a difference, and he credits his move to the UAE for his greater understanding of the world's demographics.

"Living in the UAE has greatly affected me. There's such a brilliant blend of religions and cultures here, it's impossible not to be influenced," he admits. "There are loads of different nationalities in my peer group and over 80 different nationalities in my school. I'm not bothered where my friends are from or what religion they practise, and I have no time for people who think otherwise."

Last year James was honoured with an award by his school, Jumeirah College, for contributions to charity, and in November he received the Chief Scout Gold Award bestowed by the Consul General at the British Consulate on Remembrance Day. To achieve such an accolade, significant contributions to charity must be made.

James says his most successful event to date was a fund-raiser that included everything from table-top sales to raffles and raised more than Dh5,000 for the Angel Appeal launched by the Dubai branch of the Mission to Seafarers to build the world's first seafarers' support boat. The boat visits vessels anchored offshore to provide unprivileged crews with supplies and internet access so they can contact their families - a rare treat for seafarers who can be at sea for long periods on poorly equipped boats.

The event was more than a financial success, says James. "In raising this money, we brought together so many people from the community - not just Scouts, Cubs and Guides, but also parents, siblings, friends and passers-by - all with the common goal of wanting to help raise money for charity.

"Often, when I'm visiting the UK, I'm shocked by people's opinions on other religions and races. Living here I've learnt an incredible amount about other cultures, which has helped me understand people from all backgrounds - it's an opportunity that should be cherished by everyone lucky enough to live here; it will aid us all enormously in the future."

'I want to be a teacher'

Robyn Leigh Glennie, 13, from Zimbabwe, was voted by her peers as the person they'd be most likely turn to in times of hardship and trouble. A nurturing role in teaching spells out her perfect future

Robyn is from Zimbabwe, where career aspirations for young girls are virtually nil. As Robyn's mum, Crystal, points out: "We Zimbabweans don't expect too much from life - just food on the table, petrol for the car and hopefully good health."

However, just as Robyn bid farewell to her Year 5 schoolmates before leaving for the UAE, she received a goodbye note from her teacher, Miss Beecher, who said she expected to see Robyn working for the United Nations one day. The message struck a chord with Robyn and has fuelled her career aspirations ever since. Now in this land of opportunity, she's working towards her goals.

"I'd love to be a teacher," enthuses the fresh-faced, freckled 13-year-old, whose popularity with her peers can be measured by the fact she was voted the person they'd be most likely to go to for help. While Robyn appreciates the level of education afforded to the middle classes in this part of the world, the sensitive teen is also aware of those less fortunate.

"Living in the UAE, I've seen just how many people of all different nationalities need education but can't afford it," she says. "So, when I'm older, I'd like to travel around this continent and my own to help educate people in any way possible. I was born in Africa, so it's really close to my heart and would mean a lot to me to make a difference there."

On reflection, Robyn sees other benefits to her UAE education: "Since attending school [Jumeirah College] here I've made friends from lots of different cultures and nationalities and I think it affected my social development because I've learned how to mix with others and not be racist."

Like most UAE teenagers, Robyn likes Facebooking with friends; she also enjoys wakeboarding, dancing and playing hockey, but while most kids her age would credit Lady Gaga or the Jonas Brothers as their idols, when asked whom she admires most in the world, Robyn says her ex-teacher Miss Beecher gets her vote.

"She was very 'out there'," recalls Robyn, "but she was a great teacher and a lot of fun. I see myself working with the children of Asia and Africa in the same way, making sure they have a really good education, and, maybe a little later on in life, working for the United Nations just as Miss Beecher told me I would."

Sandstorms.. and ice cream

2011-01-30T04:36:00.000-08:00

So as I was on my way out of the store, i hear the checkers start running to shut the doors saying something, no idea what, as usual :) Then i see trash go blowing by. It was my first real sandstorm! Of course as I try to call hubby and let him know, he doesn't answer. According to him this wasn't a real one, but everyone else seems to think so. There were little guys trying to put the flags at etihad plaza back up as they kept blowing over. Kind of silly, but i guess it's a job. The sand was blowing in my eyes, and at one time in one place it was hard to see. But by the time i got home it was just windy. The house is blocked by other houses, and the store is in an open field where the sand can blow more. But, it was still interesting to see.

Plus here's a little surprise we found out here too, and boy were the kids happy!

Po#$ Room

2011-01-28T00:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, so when people think of a muslim country the most i hear about is the lack of alcohol, and the lack of pork. Neither of these have had a huge impact in our lives:). I must say i hear more about drinking out here than back home! I guess some people respond to the lack of something, by indulging more in it? So, let me explain these things, and how they work here, to the best of my ability.. You can drink out here, there are liquor stores. Haven't seen one myself, but we don't have a need. You can get alcohol at the hotels, and at some of the hotel bars/clubs. Some would be shocked at how good the night scene is here, so i hear :) To get a drink at the hotels, you can just buy it. To get bottles of liquor at the stores where they are sold, you need the license. And if the police come into your home, which they can and you posses the alcohol you best have your license!
Now onto the subject i do know, pork...ssshhh. Kidding, it isn't a big deal really. There is a pork room at some of the stores. Spinney's which has lots of american stuff. We got our A&W Root Beer there :) Also Abella's, which i think seems to have more british stuff. But they each have a pork room, at Abella's you can even get fresh pork, as they have a butcher at the counter in there. We get our sliced lunch meat there. What is odd, is the things in there. Makes me wonder! Pop Tarts? Marshmellows? Kind of scary, and makes you go hmmmmm.....

Pork Room at Abella's

My Root Beer :)

Sports Day...

2011-01-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

Midget had sports day at her school. For those of you back home, it's field day :) She had a fabulous time, and it was a sunny beautiful day for it. They had running races, an obstacle course, long jump and a few other games. They wore ribbons so they can earn points for their different houses. I hope hers wins!
Monkey's part of the upper school, and he hasn't had his sports day yet :(

This is her class.

She looks ready to go, doesn't she?

Blah..

2011-01-22T22:20:00.000-08:00

We had some more blah weather, but i think the sun is out today. Finally!! The dad's took the kids out to dinner and to Sparky's. The kids are getting so spoiled with every mall having these funzones. Ice cream cone's were one dirham, which is about 27 cents! Needless to say the dads kept giving the kids the coins, and each had 2. So we had some tummy aches :)
While they were there, my new neighbor and I indulged in some girl time, and it was much needed! We went to the nail spa around the corner. So nice! It had been a while, so you know it's bad when you sign up for a treatment called "Bye, Bye, Callus". But it was heaven, and so relaxing! She's been here just over a week, so she needed some relaxation! We went and had a nice dinner and brought the kids and dad's home some little pastries from Ms. J's cafe. This was before we knew of the ice cream incident :)
Monkey took his psp to the hamed centre and got it hacked, and then hacked it some more. Now he can play halo on his psp. Apparently this is big in the gaming world :)

On the hob...

2011-01-19T05:41:00.000-08:00

So, i have looked this term up, and this is what it says..
1. (Cookery) the flat top part of a cooking stove, or a separate flat surface, containing hotplates or burners
I learned that from my British version of our families favorite butter and herb noodles. We found them in British form, and therefore costing half of the American version. Score one for mom!
So here are some pics of the FABULOUS spice section at our local Carrefour store. Its somewhere between a wal-mart and target, but not quite either. But the spice section is just amazing. I got some fresh cinnamon, lemon salt (not sure what to do with it, but it sounds promising!), and basil. And i have to say, the car smelled so good on the way home!

Then i made it to the other side to the olives. There is a restaurant back home that has these fabulous greek salad's. They have these kalamata olives in them. I didn't know that was the name, until the lovely man behind the counter told me. we used to fight for the olives, my mom and I. They never had enough, so i bought some, and they were 6 dirhams! That's about $1.50. I get the feeling i am going to get a stomach ache eating these....

And this is midget and monkey's new favorite snack. Something I don't think they ever would have picked back home. Our polish neighbor gave it to them once, and they loved it. Pepperoni/salami on a dinner roll. Go figure? But they love it:)

And lastly, my one tearful moment in the store. I couldn't believe it when i saw it.... Blue Bell!!!

Blah weather..

2011-01-17T03:52:00.000-08:00

So we had a couple sprinkles. This by no means is crazy weather as was predicted. Maybe since it isn't sunny, that makes it crazy?
It is very blah and cloudy though. So my new neighbor and I were both feeling a bit blah and funky. So we decided to head out and go get some coffee. We went down the road to Mugg and Bean. I had heard they had the biggest meringue in the whole UAE. That alone was reason to get out of a blah mood! So here it is, and I have to say my grandma would be envious of this meringue!

And oh my gosh, it was as good as it looks :)

Groundhog day...

2011-01-16T03:50:00.000-08:00

So since we have been here, since the 30th of august, the weather has been the same. You wake up, and guess what... it's sunny. Next day the same... I told the hubby it's like groundhog day here. Everyday, sunny.

I kind of would like some change every now and again, a little rain? I'm not asking for hurricanes again, not by any means. But who doesn't like to sit and read a good book with the rain outside?
So last week we had some fog... and i have to say, i'm a little concerned now. I may not want groundhog day to end... but today in the headlines, and i do mean headlines... watch out people! It may rain!!!! Now one would think this would be like crazy downpours. No, slight to moderate rain makes the headlines. Mostly because these people can't drive in anything but groundhog day weather. It's frightening! So when the rain comes, which i guess i might have to go buy an umbrella? I shall be white-knucling the steering wheel in the slow lane with all the other frightened expats. Cross your fingers!

Unstable weather expected in UAE from Sunday evening

Dubai: Unstable weather conditions and rough sea has been forecasted by the officials, from Sunday evening until end of the week.

The National Center of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) issued a warning to motorists to be extra cautious while on the road since low visibility is expected in addition to slippery roads due to rain.

After UAE was swept through by the southern and south-eastern winds on Saturday, forecasters expect the north-western winds to bring in more instability on Sunday evening.

Southern and South-eastern winds blew across the country on Saturday kicking up dust especially in open areas in the western region, leading to low visibility in many areas. The visibility in Jebel Ali, for instance, came down to 3000 metres. The temperature increased from 2 to 6 degree Celsius. The wind speed led to waves at seas going up to 5 feet high.

Forecasters expect the winds to recede by Sunday, however on Sunday evening the north-western winds will bring in a cold spell.

“The weather will be unstable in the country until end of the week”, NCMS said in a statement.

It will be cloudy and showers are expected in the northern areas. Slight to moderate rain is forecasted with highest amount of rain in coastal areas and islands. The clouds will continue to increase.

The highest amount of rain is expected on Tuesday.

There will be a gradual decrease in temperature across the country. Nights will be colder comparatively.

strange building...

2011-01-16T01:13:00.000-08:00

Looks as if it is going to roll of doesn't it? The kids love this building. It's the headquarters (looks like a quarter too!) for the main building company out here. The Aldar company. Such a strange looking building. I have heard that when they finished it, they couldn't get some of the interior building parts in, and they had to get dropped in through the top. Funny.... So typical of here. Our friend had to have his washer and dryer brought in by a crane, as it was on the 3rd floor, and the stairway to the 3rd floor where the laundry and maids room is was too narrow. Hubby said they should do like the dutch and have special windows.. :)
As for us, we vegetated all weekend, and it was heaven. We've been going and going, it was nice to sit around and do nothing... which meant laundry, video games, and lots of calico critters.

16 years...

2011-01-14T00:53:00.000-08:00

16 years ago today i married my very best friend. We've had our share of ups and downs, been thousands of miles apart, lived in our tiny apartment and now in this too big house, and i would say i would do it all over again. What a life we have to share, and 2 wonderful kids. It certainly isn't a dull one!
This is my favorite...

My family..

Hubby's famiily....

The buddies...so young!

aww...

My gosh we were young..

My daddy...

Silly things... but good ideas

2011-01-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

So the escalators here. Most don't start until you get near them. Very energy efficient. I get that, it's a very good idea. But when you are not used to them, and you have 2 right next to it, it leads to embarrassing situations. I try not to look any more ridiculous here than i have to. So i've found looking lost, as i usually am is not a good thing. So, coming up to an escalator with the men looking at you like you are an odd one, i just keep going and try to not get noticed. Alas, you look like a big, and i mean BIG goof going on a escalator that is not going to go up, when you need to go up. Standing there wondering why it isn't moving, and then bam. There it goes and an arab man is coming down it looking at you like, what are you doing? It isn't just me though, it happens to others. I've heard of our 6 ft 5 friend and our neighbor going to them thinking they have to climb them, and then falling into each other as it starts to move. That i would have paid to see!
But in case you are ever near here, or come upon non-moving escalators... here is my lesson to you...

The red light, which if you know to look for it is obvious.. means... yes, you guessed it don't go here... it's the wrong one.

Green means go :)

Dragonmart

2011-01-09T05:41:00.000-08:00

So we went on a little adventure... not really it's only an hour away, but it makes it sound more exciting doesn't it? Dragonmart is a HUGE place, full of little shops with things made in china. We didn't see 1/4th of it. The stuff there was likely 99% junk. We went looking for a cheap quad bike, aka a 4 wheeler back home. We had heard from some friends that they had them there. We saw kid ones, but not bigger ones. Then we get a hold of them and they are supposedly on the other side of the mall. the mall if over a kilometer long, so we gave up. We had given midget some of her money left over from the garage sale back home, so she "translated" it. How cute is that? So she had 140 dirhams, sounds like a lot, but it's about 35 dollars. She got a hello kitty purse, wallet, a compact pink mouse for her laptop, and headphones, and last but not least, the cutest little chinese style dress. Can you believe it? Funny...
Monkey got a knock off gameboy, not quite sure why? It came loaded with games though,and was 25 dirhams! Nuts... But it was mostly junk. Lot's of knock of purses, but i had just gotten my favorite one, so i didn't want another. Although the burberry looking one, was calling my name. Had it not been in the DuDu store. :)
We also had some wonderful news, our new neighbors, who are old friends of hubbies have arrived. With them, 3 fabulous kids! And there oldest is close to monkey's age, and he is thrilled beyond words! Midget is excited too, they have a 3 almost 4 yr old girl, and she is all set to be a mama to her :) I am excited because they are the nicest couple and are from home!
Here is a link to dragonmart if you are curious!
http://www.dragonmart.ae/OurStores.html

A little tailgating, you can't tell how crazy close he is...

This is how we get from the other side to dad and monkey....

on the golf cart, for 5 dirhams, you can get a ticket and a ride!

We both want one of these awesome trikes!

And last but not least, the thrill of the day for both my boys.. giggles :)
The DUDU Store!!!

Desperate times...

2011-01-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

call for desperate measures. As some of you may know, when the hubby was away we partook in some fast food... Chik-fil-a was a staple in our dinner menu. Let me just defend by saying midget's ballet class got out at 645 p.m. So by 7, there was no time to cook, bath and homework. I also saw many a friend at that drive-thru, so no judging please :) I don't know what they put in those sandwiches, but we have all been craving. So to carefour i went and bought my pressure cooker. I was wondering the reason for the varied prices, 100 dirhams, to 725? I think i should have gone halfway, as mine had no thermometer?? But it worked anyway, and we made ourselves a chik-fil-a sandwich! They were pretty good too! Hubby figured out the right way to close the silly pressure cooker, so i think using that right, will make them even better. But the coating was just right!

wow...

2011-01-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, I hesitate to post this video, as i am sure this is a far extreme. The muslims i have met have been extremely kind, and extremely respectful. This guy must be an extremist, or have taken the quran and read into it as he saw fit to him. There are nuts in all religions...
But a etiquette to beating your wife?

woo-hoo!!

2011-01-02T07:16:00.001-08:00

So it has only taken 4 months, but the day has come... I finally finished the laundry!!! How sad is that? I think there is a wife/mom police that was going to come and revoke my mom/wife title for having it go so long. No dryer for months puts a damper on things... get it? damper...
So that was our day. Doing the laundry... fun, fun. We also met midget's new teacher. I hope she does allright. I'm a little worried, she looked like she was in tears missing her kids. They won't be here for 2 weeks. She's supposed to be helping midget, and i think the poor woman needs help. She seems very nice though, and midget really liked her. I can't imagine being away from the kids for a couple weeks. So maybe being busy with the class will help. She is from Scotland, but worked over here for 15 years. Went back to Scotland, and is now coming here for a better education for her kids. Seems to be a common theme. So cross your fingers :)
We are waiting on hubby to bring home some Fuddrucker's. He was picking up my bank card for the bank here. In celebration of the completion of the laundry, we get Fuddrucker's. Now can i convince everyone to not dirty anymore clothes?

New Year's Day

2011-01-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

Cool little cars that drive through Italy :)

There's some excitment...

They waited, and got to the ride, and his feet couldn't push the pedals... such a bummer. But dad won the race!

Look mom no hands!

Cool little chopper isn't it?

Here is the woman yelling at the man... She must have stood there for 10 minutes!

Racer girl! Call her Trixie :)

Happy New Year everyone! We had a quiet new year's even. Hubby took the boy who know resembles my son again, who formerly looked like a beatle for a hair cut. There were melt down's had, and a few harsh words but he is ok with it now. Mostly... We then went to Ferrari World for New Year's, thinking there would be fireworks... wrong. The park closed at 11. It was fun, i suppose we would have been more excited, had we been Ferrari enthusiast. It felt a bit like a Ferrari infomercial. It was a huge park though, and almost all indoors. The decor, and building were amazing though!
Midget did get her very own Ferrari driver's license, and they did have fun driving the cars. Although the kids cars were so slow! It was interesting watching some of the local's trying to scoot past in the queue, not line, because we now stand in long queue's. This one lady actually walked through the exit, took her kid put her in a car, even though my kids had been waiting 20 minutes. Then she proceeded to yell at the worker for asking her to wait in line. So her kid is crying, she is yelling, and i'm thinking my kid is waiting for this woman who is teaching her child what? Sad.... But amazingly enough, they didn't let her ride until she stood in line, which by the way, they refused to do.
So New Years, by midnight we were all still barely awake, watching the fireworks on Dubai One news, and thanked heaven we decided not to go see them at the Burj Khalifa, there were thousands of people there! But we sat snuggled up on the couch to watch them all together. So one peaceful new year's eve down in Abu Dhabi :)

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-31T04:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

Beautiful Weather!!

2010-12-30T02:31:00.001-08:00

Pretty isn't it?

Sand, sand, everywhere....

I think this kid is learning to relax...

I didn't get a pic of this up from xmas. She and her dad ran all over town trying to make a trophy. They melted a styrofoam ball with spray paint, then came across a trophy store and got this. She made it with him. So sweet, can you ask for a nice gift? <3 On the planet people, now that's love!

Dad popped over for lunch even!

it's a rough life for him...

so funny..

Yes this was well planned, a playgroud, the beach, and a nice outdoor cafe to sit at... these people know how to relax!

The weather has been so amazing, and just beautiful outside. It's in the high 50's at night, and goes to mid 70's during the day. Our electric bill even went in half, which makes daddy very happy :) We went to the corniche today, and it was amazing. The water was a bit too cold to swim in when we first got there. In all the time we've been here, we've driven by it a million times, but this was the first time to stop and play. We rode the little 4 person bike, although dad was at work :( The kids played in the sand, and then dad met us up there for lunch. It was an outdoor cafe with the best pizza. It was an absolutely fabulous morning, and so relaxing.
tomorrow is new year's eve, so happy new year to everyone. I think we will pop over and watch the fireworks in dubai. Monkey wants to ride his skateboard at the skatepark there, so might make a day of it. It's so funny, we never did this much back home :)

Christmas...

2010-12-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

The tree..

Not sure what to do with this....

The "boys" new toy.

A new guitar!

My sweet girl, took a sock of hers, tied curly ribbon to it, and got Sheldon a new toy for his stocking :) Is that one loved cat or what?

The loot :)
The elf's mess..

Fred was here again this year, but he wasn't as creative as before, he was a bit tired it seems. But XMAS even he tied a bunch of dirty laundry across the house to the tree! Silly elf...

Pretty park

There was a free aquarium at the park too.

Yes, they were pretending to be tied to the train tracks while we waited...

The train was far, far away.... and S...L...O...W...

more rolling...

WEEEEEEE!! and more rolling...

Daddy-o - this is the arena place, nice isn't it?

McD's and a park

The kids are in there!

Sheldon relaxing on XMAS

It's over, whew. We had a different kind of Christmas. Not bad exactly, just not the usual family filled kind. It was definitely relaxing. I've discovered I prefer the crazy running around to family houses :)
The kids enjoyed playing with all their new stuff. We had gotten them some things had we been at home they wouldn't have gotten. We figure this would be the year to spoil them, and it was a bit fun doing so. We got monkey the most beautiful guitar. He was thrilled with that, and his music teacher will be also. Midget got a little keyboard, and their has been music through the house ever since. That i love! She also got a vanity desk for her room. The room is the size of texas, so she has wanted one, and her toy one was left behind. This will grown with her, and it's just so cute to watch her sit their and look at herself. Monkey's big gift, or should i say dad's big gift to monkey and himself was a helicopter. This thing flies!! It also helps with the open 3 story ceiling, not that we would allow the kids to do that, but we did :)
During the break we also found a great park, it has a huge open theater in it, and a train and some great playground equipment. I never knew how much i missed grass! It's here at parks and stuff, but not in our yard. The kids had a great time, and we got to sit in the grass and relax.
So Christmas is done, we missed home and our family. I've started counting down to the summer break, which is way to far away!! Dad is counting down to some other trip we are trying to squeeze in before hand also. Me, i am fantacizing about sonic, chik-fil-a, mom's, grammie's, grandpa. cousins, and Target!! So whoever picks us up at the airport, be ready for a fast-food run!!
Love to you all, and we miss you!

Fancy trees...

2010-12-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

11 million dollar tree
diamonds... lots and lots of them.

The two kids are priceless..

in front of the palace

Rolling again..

in the fountain, i think we were allowed in there ;)

So today we had to go see this tree we keep hearing about. The funny thing is no one hear really knew anything about it. We all kept hearing about it from people back home :) So after going to see Tangled, very cute movie mind you. We went to the Emirates Palace and saw the tree. They say it is going to be in the worlds record book for the most expensive tree. I had heard they weren't letting everyone in. Of course, you can't believe everything you hear here. But we did get the car washed, and we all had on pants and sleeves. We got in, the car behind us didn't, so go figure :) The tree was beautiful, but I don't know... I was expecting more. It did have beautiful jewels all over it. So i think that is how they got it to be worth 11 million dollars. So we saw it, it was very pretty. The palace it self is so beautiful though, maybe if it were somewhere else it would stand out more? We love that place, so the kids had fun out front rolling down the hill. Frankly, i think they preferred that to the tree :)
On a side note, this blew me away. When we would go to the movies back home, and we would buy the food there at the theater, we would spend 40 to 60 dollars easy. 3 or 4 drinks, a couple bags of candy and some popcorn. Well here we got a large popcorn, a large caramel popcorn, 2 bags of candy, a large icee and 2 drinks (don't judge, making a point here :) 92 dirhams. That's about 25 dollars. Crazy!! I was so shocked! Plus, you can get ice cream!! I mean like marble slab ice cream, not a frozen chocolate bar. So that was our day. We had fun, best part rolling down the hill and playing in the fountain at emirates palace!

Still here...

2010-12-20T05:44:00.000-08:00

Getting in the ball

Running man.

just like a little hamster, round and round and round...

The drama boy :)

choir girl

Giving his speech in our sammy

Monkey and his buddies

I can't really tell you how crazy things have been here. I'm not even sure what we have been doing to be busy. But have you ever had the week go by and wonder to yourself, where did it go? It's been like that for months now!
We are getting set for christmas still, i think the kids are going to be thrilled with their presents. As usual i have NO idea what to get the hubby. If he isn't careful he is going to get another dog statue. :)
We had our christmas show marathon with school. I have video's, but when your hubby is a computer nerd, he consistently "updates" the computer, and i have no idea how to get the video on here. He is working late most evenings right now, so he never has time to help me. Soon i hope! Monkey's performance was funny. He loved the attention, and i afraid we have created a drama monster! We are going to go see Santa on Wed. Midget can't wait. I found a fabulous mall with the entire 3rd floor video games and pc stuff, and you can haggle for the prices. So excited! We also let the kids ride in these giant hamster balls. They had so much fun doing it. I wish we had some at home, because when they got out they were so tired!!! Genuis idea people, now sell them to parents!

The Choir Singers

2010-12-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas cheer...

2010-12-11T02:24:00.000-08:00

can you feel the love :)

It was so crowded we had to go to the upper level :(

Our little singer, in her xmas hat!

Monkey and gang
Can't quite reach yet!

Gingerbread house, it was real, and there is someone in it!

So we have had a busy week, with another one to come. Midget sang with the school choir at one of the local hotels. Apparently that is what people do here? Strange, but it appears to be the norm. When you ask what people are doing, those who are staying anyway.. the answer seems to be going to one of the local hotels. These aren't like the local hotels back home, these are fancy, resort style hotels. They all seem to be having Santa Claus, or father Christmas for the British, and nice big dinners. I'm not sure i can do that, i mean Christmas is a ham or turkey dinner at home. But, this is the year of new, so who knows.
Midget's school choir did really well, i was very surprised. I know they had been rehearsing alot, and it showed. Now we have one more show during Monday morning for the primary years, where she will be dancing. I was overachieving and volunteered to make tutu's for the girls, not sure what i was thinking. So as we speak hubby is buying tulle. Then wed. evening at the end of term show, the choir will sing again, and monkey will be reciting My sammie with his 2 classmates. Fake liverpool accent and all!
So, we have the tree up, and a few presents bought. I have to wrap some still. So this will be our first xmas away from home, and it's a rather sad thing to endure! My first xmas in my life without my mom, and it's tough, as i knew it would be. But atleast the 4 of us are together, and that was the goal. I keep hearing about how bad the job market is back home. We have several friends who are not having luck finding jobs. They are being given out, but not at the pay they are used to. So the jobs are there, but not paying enough to support them. Rough times... So we are most thankful for our job out here! And the fact daddy is here every single night!